Lower than the Ground
by Lillibet426
Summary: 35 years after a young Sharon Raydor helped put a brutal murderer behind bars, his daughter steps forward with information that lifts the ground from under the team's feet. The Major Crimes division must work together to find out what really happened in the basement of Simon Hall's home. (Rated T but may change in future chapters)
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone!**

**So this is the first instalment of a series of 5 cases. I'm not sure how long each will one be but after a bit of planning, this one is going to be about 10 chapters (probably more, knowing me) and each chapter after this one will be longer. **

**My aim is to follow the along the same lines of the show. We'll see our favourite characters manoeuvre their way through whatever is thrown at them during a case and, of course, see them juggle their personal lives throughout it. And because my brain is automatically pushing me towards it, there will probably be some Sharon/Andy feels in there. Sue me!**

**Anyway, I hope you like it and I would be grateful of any feedback you have on all aspects of this piece. **

**Enjoy!**

**Lillibet x**

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Lower than the Ground

Sharon was in her office signing off the reports from their latest case that would need to be sent over to the DA's office before 2pm. The double homicide case had been messy and when they were instructed by the Chief of Police to take over from Hollywood division, they were not met with friendly handshakes. The file they had received was incomplete and Sharon had spent more time than she would have liked chasing down reports from Beat Officers. She signed off on Tao's OIC report and placed it in the jacket with the rest of the paperwork.

Sharon looked up from her work in time to see a woman cautiously walking into the murder room. There was a visitors badge pinned to her pale blue cardigan that had seen better days. Her bottle blonde hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail at the back of her head, her face void of makeup and a little drawn. Sharon watched Provenza greet the woman. They spoke for a moment and she took the opportunity to observe the woman a little more. There was something familiar about her but she couldn't quite place it. She noticed Provenza look toward her office and they locked eyes, he discreetly told her that she needed to come out of her office.

As Sharon made her way toward them the woman smiled when she caught sight of her. Sharon suddenly felt as though she'd been floored. Recognition hitting her like a tone bricks. It was as if she'd been transported back in time to 35 years previous.

"I came here asking for a Detective McMurphy," the woman smiled nervously.

"It's been a long time since I was a McMurphy," Sharon gave the woman a warm smile, hoping to relax her.

"I remember you were engaged to be married," the woman said. "I couldn't remember what you said your married name would be but the old guy downstairs put me right and said you were a Captain now, _Captain Raydor_." Helen looked impressed and Sharon laughed softly.

"How are you Helen?" Sharon asked, noticing the way Helen's eyes brightened at the sound of her name.

"Good," she said, nervously looking round at the rest of the team who were secretly watching them while pretending to work. "I'm not a Hall anymore, I'm Helen Gibbons now. I married Joe; do you remember him? Joseph Gibbons, he worked in my father's cafe."

"I remember him," Sharon said with a nod even though she didn't. "Is everything ok?"

Helen twitched and began to play with the sleeves of her cardigan, her eyes shifting from Sharon to Provenza. "I've been going to therapy... Joe's idea. I've been remembering things."

"About your father?" Sharon remembered the case well. Helen's father, Simon Hall, had brutally murdered his wife, Helen's mother. He had tried to pin the murder on his son and eldest daughter, both of whom had disappeared around the same time. Sharon had been brought in to aid Homicide; she was the family liaison officer for Helen.

"Yes," Helen said, her eyes filling with tears. "And... about what I think happened to my brother."

"Ok," Sharon touched the woman's shoulder and looked up at Provenza. "Lieutenant Provenza, why don't you join Helen and I in the Break Room?"

"Of course," Provenza said, leading the way. Helen looked at Sharon with caution and she gave the woman a reassuring smile.

"I was hoping we could talk alone," Helen whispered to her as they walked shoulder to shoulder behind Provenza.

"Lieutenant Provenza will be there for procedure purposes only," Sharon explained. "If we're going to be talking about an old case then a second officer needs to be present."

"I didn't realise it had to be so formal," Helen said. Sharon observed the woman's fidgety manner, her wide panicked eyes searching for the elevators.

"It's not," Sharon reassured her. "Lieutenant Provenza will just be sitting in with us, you won't even realise he's there."

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea," Helen said, stopping outside the Break Room. Sharon touched the woman's shoulder again and looked into her eyes.

"Trust me Helen," she said softly. "I'm here for you just like I was back then; you can trust me."

Helen took a deep breath and Sharon pressed her hand into the woman's back and moved her into the room. Provenza was at the coffee machine, making what Sharon hoped was a strong sweet coffee for Helen.

"Take a seat," Sharon indicated to the nearest chair and table and once she had sat down, Sharon sat next to her.

"Joe said I needed to tell someone about what I was remembering... but I just... we went together, to speak to an officer but..." she looked at Sharon with the same frightened eyes she had 35 years ago. "I just couldn't do it. I thought I'd put it all behind me but..."

"These things can come back to us when we least expect it," Sharon rubbed her hand over Helen's back, taking the coffee cup Provenza had handed to her and placing it in front of Helen.

"I was going to put dad's house on the market... my therapist said it was time. That it would help me but..." Tears began falling from Helen's eyes. "I went down into the basement and I... I just started to remember things..."

"Tell me what you remembered," Sharon said with a gentle voice. Helen took a deep breath and looked down at her hands, obviously struggling to find the words.

"I remember... being down in the basement... with my dad..."

"What were you doing down there?" Sharon asked. Helen had been 13 when the case about her father had come to them, two years after her mother, brother and oldest sister had disappeared. At the time Helen had sworn that she had never been down in the basement where her mother had been murdered.

"I was... digging..." Helen started to cry and she looked at Sharon. "I don't think I can do this... I can't..."

"Yes you can," Sharon said firmly. "You can do this and I'm right here to help you through it."

"I don't know why I was alone with him," she continued with a shaky voice. "Julie would never have left me alone with him. But it was just the two of us and he... he called me downstairs and... Michael was on the floor. He was wrapped in an old sheet but I could see his hair, I could see the tattoo on his arm...dad said he'd hit him... or... that it was an accident, I can't remember exactly. He said I had to help him..." Helen let out a shaky breath as her tears continued. Provenza suddenly appeared by Sharon's side and he handed her a box of tissues. Sharon took a few tissues from the box and lifted Helen's face to wipe her tears.

"It's ok," Sharon smiled gently. "Take your time."

"Dad told me that if I... I remember him saying it, he was so close to my face and I could smell the vodka... he said that if I told anyone, I'd go to prison. So I convinced myself that it didn't happen... that I dreamt it..."

"And what happened? Helen, tell me what you tried to forget."

"My dad made me... he said he'd hurt his hand, I didn't ask how but he couldn't shovel the dirt into..." Helen began to breathe heavily and Sharon started rubbing circles on her back again.

"It's ok," she cooed. "Take a deep breath and look at me. He can't hurt you anymore Helen, he can't ever get to you."

"Not physically," Helen mumbled. Sharon's heart broke in two and she wished she could take away the woman's pain. Helen picked up a few tissues and wiped her eyes with them. She took a breath and continued, her eyes on Sharon's. "Dad pushed Michael in a hole in the ground... and he made me... he made me cover him over with dirt. I was too small to lift the shovel..."

Sharon's blood ran cold at Helen's words. If what Helen said was true, that house was not only a murder site, it was a gravesite. And if Michael was there, could Agnes be there too?

"I'm glad it was me," Helen continued in a voice that seemed so far away to Sharon's ears. "I'm glad I was the one to do it... I didn't want him to touch Michael again. I didn't want that man's hands to be the last that touched Michael's skin."

"Helen," Sharon squared her features and tried to keep her voice passive. "When we were down there investigating your mother's murder, we didn't find any other evidence that someone else was down there."

"I can show you where he is," Helen turned her eyes to look at Sharon. "I can take you there."

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**I hope you're intrigued! I would love to hear what you think and any feedback would be hugely appreciated xxx**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys!**

**So here is the second instalment. I'd like to start off with a huge thank you to everyone that has read this story so far, left comments, PMs, and added me or this story to their alerts list. I really appreciate it, massively appreciate it. I really do! I normally like to thank everyone personally by replying to reviews but as some of you are guests I just wanted to reiterate my thanks on here. THANK YOU! Also, to LanaBanana06; yes I am a huge Scott and Bailey fan! And yes, the idea of this story came from an episode of S&B but I've added my own twist to it. I thought the story for S&B was a little too predictable (as most of the storylines in that show are) so I took the premise and rewrote it. God I love fanfiction!**

**Sooo... I'm now officially on my Christmas holiday (woohoo!) and hope to be able to write more often (around the eating and general Christmas merriment) so keep an eye open for the next update. Any feedback or comments would mean the world to me.**

**It's almost Christmas! It's amazing how at this time of year, I magically turn back into a 5 year old. Four more sleeps till Christmas! You can probably tell that on the first day of my holiday, I have spent way too much time with my 3 year old nephew... and now we're going out for dinner where I'm sure I'll be suckered into standing in the freezing cold while I watch him play on the swings. The pros and cons of being the favourite aunt/play thing.**

**Anyway, enough of the rambling cause I could just go on and on and... zzzzzzzzz! _Let the story begin already! _Ok... here it is!**

**Enjoy x**

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Lower than the Ground

"The victim's name was Dorothy Hall, she was 40 years old when she went missing. It was a co-worker who eventually reported her missing, two weeks after the first day she failed to turn up for work. At the time, an investigation was started into the Hall family and after every possible lead dried up, the investigative team listed her and two of her children as missing. From speaking to her husband, Simon Hall, who was 38 at the time, it was understood that Dorothy was troubled and not happy at home. The statements from her colleagues and the few friends she had fit with what M Hall told the police.

"The case was eventually left open as a missing persons file; the investigating officers said they had no reason to suspect Mr Hall of any wrong doing. Dorothy was known to disappear for weeks at a time but she always returned. Except on this occasion."

Sharon strode to the board and placed the magnets over two photos of the basement under the Hall family home.

"A builder was brought in by Mr Hall to fix the ceiling in the basement. Christopher Baines and his colleague, Carlos Mendes, noticed an odd stain on the floor of the basement but thought nothing of it. The basement was old and seemed to be largely unused so they put it down to disrepair. During the work period Mr Mendes fell from his ladder, landing on a trunk which burst open. They called the police when they realised what was in the trunk."

Sharon placed another photo on the board, the contents of the trunk making everyone in the room wince.

"Mrs Dorothy Hall," she said, turning to look at them all. "Two years after she disappeared."

"The officer in charge didn't do a thorough search of the place?" Flynn asked from his seat which he had rolled up to the end of Sanchez's desk.

"It would seem not," Sharon answered. "Dorothy had been strangled; the belt was still around her neck. Her bones had been broken, severed and packed tightly into the trunk. The well ventilated basement provided the perfect environment for mummification. We got lucky."

"So you were able to pull evidence from the body which led you to the husband," Tao said, his nose buried deep in the forensics file.

"Says here he tried to blame his kids," Sanchez said looking up from another file.

"Mr Hall told the police he had no idea his wife was down there," Sharon said, ignoring the disbelieving scoff from Provenza. "Agnes Hall, 17 and Michael Hall, 15, were never heard from after the incident took place. Simon laid the blame on heavy, told us how much the kids hated their mother. How Dorothy was not mentally stable and would often beat the children and force them to take part in sexual escapades."

"Says Hall hinted that his wife used the basement for soliciting," Sanchez said pointing down to his file. "I don't believe what he said about not knowing was going on. How can you not know what is going on in your own house?"

"We didn't believe him either," Sharon said. "The officer in charge took him down hard; the evidence was too strong against him but..." She sighed and turned back to the board. "He never confessed to doing it. Still to this day he claims he's innocent. Blames Agnes and Michael at every chance he gets, telling anyone who'll listen that he's serving life in prison while his kids are out there living their lives."

"They've never been found?" Flynn asked with a frown. She shook her head.

"No record of them anywhere?" Sykes asked, disbelievingly.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he'd killed them too," Tao mumbled. Sharon was quiet for a moment and she looked back to the board where the images of the basement still hung like macabre murals.

"I take it we have new evidence," Flynn said from behind her. She could feel his eyes on her and when she turned back to look at him their eyes locked for a moment. "We wouldn't be looking at a 35 year old case if something hadn't been brought to our attention."

"The Halls had two other daughters, Julie was 15 at the time of the investigation into Dorothy's murder," Sharon cleared her throat before continuing. "She committed suicide five years later."

"Jesus," Flynn said under his breath.

"You said they had _two_ other daughters," Sykes prompted her. Sharon nodded and folded her arms behind her back. She could feel Flynn's eyes on her again, she knew he could see her concern where few others could but she wished he'd stop looking at her like that.

"Helen Hall was 11 when the family was brought in over the disappearance of Dorothy. I had just started in Vice and I was recruited to Homicide on a temporary basis to take care of the two girls during the investigation." Sharon looked down at Provenza for a moment and he nodded at her. "Helen came in to see me today; she's started to remember what happened in the basement."

-x-

"Why now?" Flynn asked as they headed toward his car. Sharon frowned over the top of the car as she waited for him to unlock the doors.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Well," he leaned his elbows on the roof of the car and fixed his eyes on her. "It's been over 30 years. Do you really believe that she was able to burry what happened so deeply that her mind can block it out?"

"It's not unheard of," Sharon said, indicating for Flynn to open the door. "People that have experienced some kind of trauma have been known to suffer from temporary memory loss. Sometimes it's permanent. Helen's memories are returning because she's revisiting that part of her life."

"Yeah but... I just think it's odd." He unlocked the doors and Sharon slipped into the car.

"I've already set up a physical for her and an evaluation session to assess her mental state," Sharon put her belt on and looked out through the front windshield as Flynn pulled his car out. "We'll see what comes out of it."

"Do you believe her?" Flynn asked tentatively. Sharon sighed and looked across at him.

"I don't see why she'd lie about something like this," she said.

"But you have your concerns," Flynn guessed.

"I have no reason to distrust her," Sharon argued, feeling somewhat defensive of the woman she still saw as the little girl she had taken care of all those years ago.

"We wouldn't be having this conversation if you completely believed everything she was telling you," Flynn looked over at her when they stopped at a set of lights. "I can see it's bothering you and I get it. Having a case come back to bite you in the ass is a cops worse nightmare. Especially if it appears that the cops working the case missed something."

Sharon bristled silently, she knew Flynn was trying to make her feel better about the situation but true to Flynn fashion, it didn't quite work. Provenza had cornered her after their talk with Helen and had done the same thing. However, when Provenza swore to her that they would find out what really happened, that he'd do everything in his power to see Simon Hall get what he deserved, it did make her feel better. He'd pumped her with the drive and confidence to dive right into the case again. Flynn on the other hand, made her second guess. At any other time she valued her Lieutenants different approaches, but at that moment, she just really wanted him to be quiet.

"Andy, I know you're trying to make this easier for me..."

"But I'm not helping," he interrupted, giving her an apologetic smile. Sharon shrugged.

"I just want to look at the evidence," she said to him as he continued to drive. "I want to know what's down in that basement and then we can take it from there."

"You got it Captain," Flynn grinned at her. That was what Sharon needed from him. She needed the cocky grins, the smart attitude and the bad jokes. She needed him to be the one she could go to who would take her mind of whatever was troubling her, even if only for a moment. She chuckled and looked over at him. She watched the amusement in his eyes slowly die and she followed his eyes out of the front windshield.

Reporters lined the street that led up to the former Hall residence. As soon as they spotted Sharon and Flynn driving toward them, their cameras turned and began flashing. Sharon groaned and looked toward Flynn.

"News travels fast," he muttered as he slowly worked the car through the crowd of people and pulled into the drive of the house.

Sharon got out and ignored the reporters who were shouting questions at her. She felt Flynn's strong hand on her lower back as he guided her away from the flashing cameras and red recoding lights.

The moment she stepped through the door she felt it. The same empty feeling she'd had when she brought Helen and Julie back to get their belongings before they were sent to live with a relative. It was as if the house sapped the warmth from her, every good feeling out of reach, only darkness and dread was found. She shivered and felt Flynn step closer, his head leaning in to her ear.

"Did it always feel like this?" He asked quietly. Sharon nodded silently and quickly moved away from him. He was hot on her heels as she led the way to the basement. She stood at the doorway and watched Doctor Morales climb heavily up the stairs. He pulled his face mask off and sighed. Sharon felt her stomach drop into her knees.

"We have a problem," Morales said, indicating for the forensic tech that was just walking behind them to bring extra protective suits. He then handed Sharon and Flynn a set of latex gloves and shoe covers.

"Did you find Michael where Helen said you would?" Sharon asked as she took the protective suit from the technician.

"I don't know what we have," Morales said, not giving anything away. Sharon glanced over at Flynn worriedly as they quickly slipped into the suits and secured their gloves and shoe covers. "Dr Owen Horton was brought in when we realised what we were looking at."

"Who is Dr Horton?" Sharon asked as she tucked her hair into the hood of her protective suit and secured a face mask.

"Forensic Anthropologist," Dr Morales said. His own protective gear back in place, he led Sharon and Flynn down the wooden stairs and into the basement.

Sharon paused a moment as she took the scene in. The basement was covered in white plastic sheeting, technicians examining every piece of furniture, every object, every surface. There was a large hole in the centre of the floor, a thin layer of concrete had been cracked to reveal earth buried beneath it. There were two body bags laid by one of the walls and judging from the mounds under the black plastic, Sharon guessed that they had found not one body, but two. She turned to look at Morales's eyes, her unspoken question hanging in the air.

"Helen said Michael had been wrapped in a sheet, from the looks of the first body," he pointed to the body bag on the left. "It appeared to be wrapped in something. We'll need to get it tested to know exactly what it was of course and we'll have to do some DNA testing on the body but we're fairly certain that it's Michael."

"And the other one?" Sharon asked, nodding to the body bag on the right.

"Young male, probably in his early twenties. Did Helen mention any other young men?" Morales asked.

"No," Sharon breathed deeply. "Where is Dr Horton?"

"Over here," a voice said from the hole in the ground. A tall body unfolded, draped in white coveralls and his face covered by a plastic shield. He held a fine saw in one hand, a small paint brush in the other. He stepped out of the hole and moved toward them. "You must be Captain Raydor," he said, handing his tools to the technician closest to them.

"And this is Lieutenant Flynn," Sharon said as she and Flynn shook the doctors hand. "What do you have down there?"

"Well from the looks of it I have another young male; I can't see much of the skull or pelvis so a more accurate age range is difficult at the moment. He's been down there a long time, longer than the two we pulled out first." Dr Horton said looking down into the hole. He turned back and looked at Sharon, his pale blue eyes being the only thing she could really pick out beyond the plastic.

"There are three bodies down here?" She wasn't really asking anyone, more saying it out loud to make it feel real.

"I wouldn't be surprised if there was more," Dr Horton said as if the prospect of finding more bodies didn't horrify him.

"More?" Flynn asked. Sharon turned to look at him, taking comfort in his presence by her shoulder.

"I want to search the whole house," Dr Horton said, his eyes fixing on Sharon as if he expected her to deny his request.

"Do it," Sharon ordered.

"It's not every day that the LAPD agree to such extravagant measures," Dr Horton said with a slight mocking tone.

"Let me deal with the LAPD," she said, glaring at him. "Pull the entire house down if you have to," she said. "If we have multiple murders down here then I want to nail the person responsible for every single one of them."

Horton nodded appreciatively. "I'll have my team brought in and I'll meet you at Dr Morales's morgue in an hour."

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**Thanks for reading and I hope you're still enjoying it! Any comments or feedback are welcomed, your thoughts and opinion are how I improve on my writing xxx**


	3. Chapter 3

**HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

**It's 2014 – how did that happen? This year, not only am I celebrating my 8th year living in London but I'll be turning 27 in June. Depressing! Nah just kidding, bring it the frak on!**

**So my plan to get as much writing done as possible over my two week Christmas break didn't quite go to plan... understatement? Ok fine! I spent the whole time eating way too much food, indulging in (way too expensive) cabernet and whiskey, playing with my nephew (we played a lot of Hulk and Spiderman, fine by me!), blowing my savings in the Christmas sales and finally, forcing my mom to watch Major Crimes... we had a slight falling out when she said she didn't like Sharon Raydor (collective gasp) but she came around and the cataclysmic rift created between us was healed. All is right with the world.**

**So while I'm impatiently waiting for the next episode to air I thought I'd distract myself by sitting down and getting this chapter finished. So here it is! I think I should point out that in this chapter you might find that Sharon and Provenza interact slightly differently than they do on the show. My reason being that Provenza seems to know a lot about her, such as knowing her daughter is a ballet dancer and what company she dances with. That to me means that they share a relationship where they can comfortably talk to each other about their personal lives. So as we don't see that much on the show (sad face) I thought I'd explore it here. I really do love fanfiction! And on that note, I'm actually looking to get involved with some MC communities and getting to know a few people – anyone have any recommendations?**

**Anyhoo, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and I wish you all the best for 2014!**

**Lillibet x**

**P.S. if I haven't been able to thank you personally then thank you to all that have left reviews and added this story to your favourites. And also to everyone that stops by to read – thank you!**

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Lower than the Ground

Sharon and Flynn stepped off the elevator and strode through the doors that led to the morgue. Provenza and Tao were waiting for them and Sharon turned to Tao first for an update.

"I have Amy, Julio and Buzz going through missing person reports pulling out all males that went missing in the area. I don't want to narrow the search any further until we get a full report on the bodies we've found," Tao said, handing Sharon a file. She opened it and was greeted by a photograph of Michael Hall. "I pulled his file for you, thought you might need it."

"Thank you Mike," she said looking up at him. He smiled slightly then turned on his heel and headed back to the murder room.

"Three bodies huh?" Provenza asked when it was just the three of them. "Do you think Helen knew?"

"I don't know," Sharon said with a grimace. There was a lot she didn't know; she hated that feeling.

"I still think we should take a look into Helen, find out what she's been up to since her father was put in prison." Flynn said crossing his arms over his chest.

"Helen was 11 when her mother was murdered, even younger when she helped her father bury her brother. What are the chances that she had anything to do with the older body Doctor Horton found?" Sharon looked at both Lieutenants but they each avoided her eyes. She wondered if she was being too protective of Helen. The thought crossed her mind that had this been anyone else she would have had someone run a full background check on her. She wasn't being objective... she couldn't jeopardise the case because of her feelings for Helen.

"Andy," his name brought his eyes up to meet hers. "Run a check on Helen and her husband Joe."

"You think he could have had something to do with it?" Flynn asked with a frown.

"Simon Hall had someone he worked close with at his cafe," Sharon explained. "I think it might have been Joe and if it was, he will have been around for the murders."

"I'll have someone look into it," Andy nodded, glancing quickly toward his partner.

"I want you personally to look into this," Sharon said quietly. "If Helen knows more than she's letting on then I want you to find out what you can as quickly and discreetly as possible. She willingly came to us; I don't want to break that confidence."

"Sure," Andy nodded again and strode toward the elevator, leaving Sharon and Provenza alone.

"You think I'm too close to the case," Sharon stared at the No Entry sign above the morgue door, purposefully avoiding looking directly at Provenza.

"I didn't say anything," he said with outrage.

"Well you were doing it very loudly," she looked pointedly at him and Provenza held her gaze for a moment. "Just say it, whatever it is that's on your mind."

"It's not that I think you're too close," he started, stepping toward her. "I think you're feeling responsible for what happened."

"I was on the case..."

"As the kid's babysitter," Provenza said softly. Sharon glared at him and he held his hands up in surrender. "I'm not saying that you didn't help, because you did, it's well documented. I'm just saying that you were a rookie to homicide, you were following orders and nothing you did puts you at blame here."

"I was in that house with the girls," Sharon said after a moment. "I was with them every day for almost three months. Why didn't I know about this? Helen and I became very close. I just feel like I should have done more. If only I'd pushed her to talk about it she might have told us what happened during the first investigation."

"Or she could have clamped up with you like she did with everyone else," Provenza argued. "She trusted you because you never pushed her. You allowed her the space she needed to come to terms with what happened and because of that she trusted you. If she hadn't, she may never have come to us about Michael."

"And now we're treating her like a suspect," Sharon said quietly. Provenza gave her a sympathetic look and before he could speak anymore on the matter she shook her head, indicating that the conversation was over for now.

Sharon paced the corridor, every now and again looking toward the neon sign that still signalled that the morgue was off limits. Provenza had sat down on the bench and was leaning back, his hands clasped behind his head, his eyes focused on the floor, his foot tapping to a silent tune. Sharon glanced at him every time she walked by him, envious of his ability to relax at such a time. Her mind was racing. She was growing impatient at being held back from seeing the evidence found in the basement, concern for Helen, anger at herself... she knew she needed to learn to let things go or she would end up burning our fast. Even now, she could feel her exhaustion taking over her body and the stress had been building in the form of a headache. But she couldn't just let it go. She wanted to keep going until she uncovered every bit of evidence, every body was discovered, every person connected interviewed and every possible lead followed. This was the third time that the LAPD was coming into contact with this house and family and she wanted to make sure that it was the last.

"Would you sit down?" Provenza broke through her thoughts and Sharon jumped at the sound of his voice. "You're like a caged animal and you're damn well annoying me."

Sharon glared at him but Provenza returned her look with a stubborn one of his own. She tilted her head at him and only when it became clear that he wasn't going to back down, she lowered herself to the bench next him and crossed one leg over the other.

"You need to..."

"If you're going to tell me to relax I'd recommend you think twice about it," she interrupted him.

"I'm just saying..." he began but her look quickly cut him off. He shrugged and gave her a somewhat impish smile. She shook her head and leaned back, her arms folding across her waist.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't," she gave him a sideways glance, tilting her head down to look over her glasses at him. She pursed her lips to prevent herself from smiling. Provenza shrugged again and looked up at the No Entry just as the light went out.

"Show time," he muttered, pointing to the door.

Sharon glanced up too and when she realised what Provenza was referring to she jumped from her seat. As she made her way to the morgue doors Doctor Morales stepped out, followed by Doctor Horton.

"What do you have for us?" Sharon asked Morales when he peeled off his protective face mask.

"Preliminary results show the males were aged 15 to 23," Morales said, letting out a deep sigh. "The first we pulled out show facial markers that match those of the Hall family, we're still waiting on DNA results but we're fairly certain what they'll show."

"How did he die?" Sharon asked, folding her arms over her chest. Morales looked toward Horton who had removed his own mask. He was handsome in a warrior kind of way, his shoulders were broad, his blue eyes and blonde hair making him seem of Viking decent. He was perhaps in his late 30's but he beamed with a confidence of someone much older and more experienced than he.

"There are no visible markers on the bones," Horton started. "Whatever was done to him were flesh wounds, possibly organ damage but now that the flesh has decayed, we'll never know for sure unless the killer confesses."

"So we have no evidence that Hall is connected?" Provenza asked with his usual frustrated air. Sharon eyed him discreetly and he shrugged at her.

"There is some staining on the bones so I will be able to tell you where the fatal wound occurred," Horton said, his eyes landing on her. "I can't give you an exact cause of death but I might be able to give you some possible scenarios."

"Whatever you can do to help Doctor," Sharon said with a nod.

"We found something on the other two bodies that will be of more use to you," Morales said after a moment. Sharon stared at him, her skin tingling in anticipation that they had something to follow up on. "Why don't the two of you suit up and come in?"

Sharon didn't need to be asked twice. She strode through the morgue doors quickly, accepting the coveralls from Doctor Horton and allowing him to tie the top while she wrapped the ties around her waist and tied them in front.

"Doctor Morales tells me you've worked on this case before," he said as Sharon tucked her hair into the collar of the protective suit. She turned slowly and looked at him, trying to keep her face unreadable.

"Not this case exactly," she said in a neutral voice. "But I am familiar with the family."

"It must be hard," Doctor Horton said with a sigh. Sharon stared at him for a moment, keeping her face and eyes unreadable.

"What is?" She asked.

"Having a case come back to haunt you like this," he replied. Sharon felt herself grow defensive as he spoke. "In my work... I'm used to uncovering skeletons that are hundreds of years old. Some have died of natural causes and some died under suspicious circumstances but the point is; they happened long ago in our history. I'm removed from what happened. There is no one that needs to be punished for what happened to them." He gave her an admiring smile. "I couldn't do what you do."

Sharon felt herself relax immediately but her face must have registered her surprise because Doctor Horton chuckled. She smiled slightly. "I'd like to say that it gets easier with every case you work," she said after a moment. "But that would be a lie."

"You don't need to tell me that," he said with a grin.

Feeling slightly self-conscious under his gaze, Sharon tucked her hair behind her ear and stepped around him. Provenza was waiting for her by the doors to the autopsy suite. She looked at him but Provenza wasn't looking in her direction; instead he was watching Doctor Horton with a suspicious frown. Sharon cleared her throat and shook her head only enough for him to see. Provenza held the door open for her and as she passed he leaned in to her ear.

"What was that about?" He let the door go after they walked through, leaving Doctor Horton to open the door for himself.

"Nothing," Sharon whispered. "We were just discussing the case." Provenza made a disapproving noise in the back of his throat and Sharon eyed him out of the corner of her eye.

"And?" He pushed.

"And nothing," she said quietly as she watched Doctors Morales and Horton manoeuvre two of the bodies into the centre of the room so that they were side by side. "We talked about our work."

"If you ask me, that's not all he wants to talk to you about," he mumbled under his breath. Sharon gave him a side long glare.

"Well nobody asked you," she said with a hard voice but she knew she wasn't able to disguise the amusement in her eyes. She watched a smirk appear on Provenza's face and she shook her head as she walked toward Doctor Morales. "Tell me what you have Doctor."

"This is the first body we pulled out of the grave after we discovered Michael Hall. We've put an estimated time of death of 38 years on this one," Doctor Morales indicated to the body closest to them. "Doctor Horton believes this boy was 18 years old at the most. We can tell from his bones that as a child he was malnourished and may have been abused."

"He has a variety of breaks and fractures, some of which were obviously never treated," Doctor Horton pointed to the left section of ribs. "These fractures for example would have been very painful and it would have taken weeks to heal. And without proper treatment you can see that the fractures healed at an odd angle. This boy may have walked with his left shoulder slightly hunched over."

"Are you sure this happened during his childhood and not a result of murder?" Provenza asked.

"It's had years to heal," Doctor Horton said. "They all have. The bones have fused back together."

"There is only one break that happened at the time he was murdered," Doctor Morales said with a knowing smile. "His jaw."

"His jaw?" Sharon asked, taking a step closer to the body and looking down at the skull. "Was he alive?"

"These dark stains on his teeth indicate he was bleeding," Doctor Morales held the jaw bone up to the light for them to see. "He may have been punched repeatedly."

"Do you have cause of death?" Sharon asked softly.

"We found this belt in his grave with him," Doctor Morales picked up an old leather belt and handed it to Sharon. "This one was around the victim's neck."

"Strangled?" Provenza asked, looking at the belt that Sharon passed to him.

"Maybe," Doctor Morales said cryptically.

Sharon looked at Provenza and he shrugged. "Maybe?" She turned back to Morales who was smiling again.

"There's no way to tell if he was strangled," he said. "We only have the position of the belt to go on and when we move onto the next victim..." he turned to Horton and indicated for him to take over. Sharon and Provenza followed Horton as he moved to the next body. He pulled the cover back to reveal the skeleton and Sharon looked up at both Doctors.

"This is how he was found?" She asked.

"Oh yeah," Doctor Morales said.

"Hooking the belt under the victim's chin and tying it on top of their heads would have done two things; they wouldn't have been able to talk and they wouldn't have been able to breathe properly." Doctor Horton said. "Once the belt was on them they would have floated in and out of consciousness."

"Could this have killed them?" Sharon asked, leaning down to get a better look at the belt on the victim's head.

"Perhaps over time," Doctor Horton said with a shrug. "The brain would have shut down eventually from oxygen starvation. He would have lapsed into a coma before dying."

"Is there any evidence that these men were kept alive long enough for that to happen?" She asked, looking up at Horton.

"Looking at the first body I would have to say no," Doctor Horton moved toward the first victim and Sharon followed. "If the victim had been kept alive after whatever injury led him to bleed then the wound would have healed, there would be no staining. To me this indicates that the victim was killed soon after receiving the injury. And if I had to hazard a guess as to what killed him then I'd assume he was strangled with the belt."

"But without the flesh it's hard to give you a definitive answer," Doctor Morales added.

"However, this is what I do Captain," Doctor Horton moved around the table to stand in front of her. "I figure out cause of death when there is no evidence, I do not have the advantage of being told what was done to the body, I have to piece it together. It takes time but if you give me it, I promise you I'll be able to find out what happened to your victims. And I might even be able to give you some factors that can help you identify them."

Sharon looked over at Provenza who raised his eyebrows in thought. "I don't see what harm it can do," he said.

"Alright," Sharon turned back to Doctor Horton. "As long as it's ok with Doctor Morales that you use his lab."

"I'll have him set up," Doctor Morales said, looking excited at having the other doctor stay on.

"You'll keep me informed of your progress?" Sharon asked the two men.

"Will do!" Doctor Morales called over his shoulder as he strode from the room, indicating for Horton to follow him. But before he did, Doctor Horton looked down at Sharon.

"I'll bring up the reports myself, Captain," he said. Sharon gave a stiff nod and a slight smile.

"Thank you Doctor Horton."

"Call me Owen," he smiled and quickly left the room, following Morales to the lab to begin his study. Sharon watched after him for a moment and she sensed Provenza's eyes on her from behind.

"Yes?" She asked without turning to look at him.

"Call me Owen?" He repeated in a slight sing-song pattern. "I don't like him," he grew serious.

"You're treating him like a suspect," she finally turned to face him.

"Maybe we should be," Provenza said. Sharon rolled her eyes and moved out of the examination room.

"For what? What has he done?" She asked as she pulled the protective suit off and stuffed it in the bin. "Being friendly isn't a crime."

"Friendly? Is that what we're calling it now?" Provenza raised his eyebrows at her and smirked. Sharon rolled her eyes and headed for the elevator.

"Are you coming?" She called over her shoulder as she entered the elevator. She held the doors open as Provenza walked at a leisurely pace, his grin still plastered on his face. Sharon tried to secure her face in a frown but she couldn't quite fight the urge to laugh. It didn't seem the time or the place to laugh or to joke around but she was thankful for it. Thankful for Provenza and his arrogant walk and presumptive looks. Because for a moment, she was able to forget what a mess this case was but when her phone started to vibrate and she answered it, the hesitant tones from Julio jarred her senses.

They'd found more bodies...

* * *

**So I hope you enjoyed this latest instalment. Thank you for stopping by to read and I'd love to know what you thought xxx**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello everyone!**

**I'm feeling so much better now! Thank you all for your kind words and well wishes, you're such beautiful people.**

**After my illness, and taking into consideration the amount of food (by which I mean chocolate), alcohol and nicotine I polluted my body with over Christmas, I decided to do a detox this week. Nothing but raw foods and smoothies and I have to be honest, I'm only a day into it and already I'd give anything for a great big bowl of pasta with meat and veg. Only five more days to go! I can do this!**

**So tonight is the final episode of Major Crimes. My excitement level is so gargantuan that it's not even readable on a graph! But that also means that we have months of waiting for season 3 to start (I just gave myself excited butterflies at the thought of season 3 – so sad!). But at least we'll have glorious amounts of fanfiction to keep us occupied and I'll have you guys to keep me sane! We can pass the time together :D**

**Anyway, thank you to everyone that has read this and are continuing to read. The response has been amazing and your support means the world to me. I hope you enjoy this next chapter. This might be the last _lighter_ themed chapter for a little while, it's about to get dark and dirty...**

**Lillibet x**

* * *

Lower than the Ground

"I'm just saying the guy's just a kid," Provenza said as he and Sharon walked through the doors to Major Crimes. "He can't be that much older than your own son."

"Where exactly are you going with this, Lieutenant?" She asked, turning to face him. Provenza smirked and lowered his voice.

"Just giving you some friendly advice," he said conspiratorially. Sharon rolled her eyes and turned away from him.

"Your advice is not needed on this occasion," she said, walking toward her office. She knew he was following her and she sped up her steps only to almost walk into Flynn as he exited her office. "Andy..." she breathed his name in her surprise and smiled. He eyed her curiously and she watched him look between her and his partner.

"What happened?" He asked.

"That kid Horton wants to get to know the Captain a little better," Provenza said with a smug look. Sharon glared at him.

"Do you have something for me Andy?" She asked, pushing her way into her office and ignoring Provenza's comment.

Sharon moved around her desk and sat down heavily. When she looked up she was relieved to see that Provenza had stalked toward his own desk and Flynn had followed her into her office. She leaned back in her chair and looked up at him.

"You ok?" He asked.

She gave him a weak smile. "I'm fine," she said.

"'Cause I can talk to him for you," he offered. Sharon frowned slightly.

"To Provenza?"

"I meant Doctor Horton," Flynn corrected her. Sharon couldn't help the giggle that bubbled out of her and she looked up at him.

"Oh Andy," she smiled. "There's really no need to speak to Doctor Horton, or Provenza," she added with a chuckle. Flynn smirked as he sat down in the chair in front of her.

"'Cause you know that if you ever need anything, I'm your guy." He looked at her with those sweet, sincere eyes and Sharon found herself smiling at him again. "You know that right?"

"You're my guy," Sharon repeated with a nod then slipped into business mode. "So what do you have for me?"

Flynn picked up a file from her desk that she assumed he had been leaving for her when she bumped into him at her door. He opened it and handed her the autopsy report of Julie Hall.

"This is the only thing that has jumped out at me so far," he said, pointing to a paragraph halfway down the first page. "So far there's nothing suspicious in Helen or Joe's backgrounds but when I looked into Julie's file... it says here that she slit her wrists."

"Yes, I remember hearing about it at the time," Sharon said as she read the paragraph Flynn had pointed out to her. "Wait..." She looked up at him with a frown. "She had a high dose of Valium in her system?"

"According to the police report, Julie's roommate said she often took Valium to help her sleep when she was nervous or stressed. But when I checked the evidence logs, no Valium was ever collected from the crime scene."

Sharon flipped through the file to find the evidence log and just as Flynn had said, there was no sign of Valium. "Was the roommate a suspect?"

"Solid alibi," Flynn said with a shake of his head. "The medical examiner suggested that Julie could have taken the Valium to make herself drowsy so that she wouldn't be able to feel the blade."

"I'm amazed she was even able to keep her eyes open long enough to drag the knife down both arms as deep as she did," Sharon observed as she flicked through the crime scene and autopsy photos.

"One thing the autopsy report does say is that a few days before she died, Julie received a blow to the head. I'm trying to track down hospital reports to see what happened but this report says that it was enough to cause some swelling to her brain, which will have put some pressure on her eyes." Flynn paused a moment and Sharon allowed the information to sink in. "She may have had blurred vision," he added. Sharon sighed and laid the files out on her desk so they could both look at the photos.

"So, before she committed suicide, she was attacked badly enough for it to affect her vision... that's a lot of anger. Could someone have figured out who she was? Or who her father was?" She looked across at Flynn who was staring at the autopsy report, deep in thought. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking... that Helen could have offed her," he lifted his eyes up to meet hers. Sharon could only stare at him for a few moments.

"Helen?" She asked, wondering if she'd heard him right. He nodded. "What would her motive have been? Julie was the only person she had left in the world."

"Maybe Julie was a harsh reminder of who her family were. Maybe Julie showed some homicidal tendencies like her father-"

"So Helen murders her and stages it as a suicide?" Sharon watched Flynn shrug and she suddenly grew annoyed. "Why are you gunning for Helen?"

"I just think its odd, this whole case. Helen coming to us after all these years... why? Why now? She's admitted to helping her father bury her brother, maybe that was all she needed and now she's hooked on murder too. It's like Provenza says; it's always the family."

Sharon stared hard at him. "Show me the evidence Lieutenant, prove to me that she's involved and I'll personally go to Helen's home and arrest her," she rose from her desk and crossed her arms over her chest. "Until then, I suggest we focus on the evidence that we have and seeing as though we know that he has already murdered two people and hid them down in the basement, let's look further into Simon Hall."

"So you want me to end my background check on Helen and Joe?" Flynn asked in a clipped tone that told Sharon he was annoyed too.

"No," she sighed. "Continue your check on both of them... and on Julie Hall."

"Look, Sharon," Flynn's voice had calmed. He stood from his chair and moved to lean against the desk next to her. She looked up at him. "I can see how much this case is affecting you." He raised a hand when she began to object and she allowed him to continue. "I'm just watching your back," he said gently.

"Because you're my guy, right?" She asked with a smile.

"You betcha," he grinned. "Get your jacket, I'm buying lunch today and I need an extra set of hands."

"Can't," she said growing serious as she remembered the phone call she'd received just moments ago. "I'm waiting for an update on the excavation at the Hall residence."

"That'll take at least an hour," Flynn said, hooking his hand under her elbow and ushering her from the office. "Come on, I'm already late in getting it and I'll start to get complaints if I don't have it here by 3pm. Besides, you know Rusty will be on your case if he doesn't get his lunch soon."

"You offer an excellent point Lieutenant," she smiled slightly as she disentangled herself from him. She held up her hand to him to signal that she needed a minute and she walked in the direction of where Rusty had took to hiding. She found him at a desk on a laptop Buzz had loaned him. He looked up and smiled at her when she entered.

"Hey," he looked pleased to see her. "Where is everyone?" He asked. "It's been really quiet around here."

"We got a big case," she said, walking toward him and leaning against the desk opposite his. "The team are off working on different things."

"Does this have something to do with that woman from this morning?" he asked. Sharon nodded. "I looked it up on the internet. It doesn't say you were working on it."

"I was only 26 at the time and strictly speaking, I wasn't supposed to be working the case."

"But I heard Buzz and Lieutenant Tao saying that you helped-"

"I did but back then..." she gave a little shrug and a smile. "I was a rookie, I hadn't been out of uniform for long and... I was a woman. My ideas were either tossed aside or someone else took the credit for it."

"That doesn't seem fair," Rusty frowned.

"It wasn't," she folded her arms across her chest. "It's what all women had to deal with back then. I was only there for a year before I was recruited to FID and then-"

"You got your own back?" Rusty grinned and Sharon chuckled.

"Let's just say, they soon learned to take me seriously," she said in a low voice.

"I bet," Rusty rolled his eyes.

"What do you want for lunch?" She asked, straightening up and moving towards the direction she had come.

"You know what I want," he said, turning back to his laptop.

"No burgers." She earned herself an incredulous look from her foster-son.

"What, why?"

"Because you had a burger last night," she said.

"Fine," he mumbled. "A sandwich will be fine."

"You can't live on burgers every day," she said to him.

"Why? You afraid I'll turn into one?"

"Very funny," she gave him a smile and was pleased when he returned it. "I'll be back soon."

Sharon turned on her heel and headed back to where Flynn and Provenza were standing by the murder board.

"Ready to go?" Flynn asked when he caught sight of her approaching.

"Sure," she turned to Provenza. "You'll call me if Detective Sanchez comes back before I return?"

"Sure thing, Captain," Provenza gave a mock salute and flopped down into his chair as she and Flynn headed for the elevator.

-x-

Sharon was perched on a stool with her back to the counter. She leaned her elbows back and crossed her legs as she watched the people go about their business in the cafe.

"Comfortable?" Flynn smirked at her as he lifted himself onto the stool next to her.

"Just people watching," she said. As Flynn went silent, Sharon took the opportunity to think about the case as she watched a young man flirting with a waitress.

Simon Hall had been described as being obsessed with his wife. It had been love at first sight and their brief affair before they got married was both passionate and violent. Throughout their marriage they had both sought regular treatment at various hospitals but had declined police involvement when it was suggested by the medical staff.

Sharon watched the waitress brush the young man's shoulder as she leaned toward him slightly.

Everyone that had known Dorothy had suspected her husband of beating her but from what Sharon knew of their history, she knew that Dorothy could give as good as she received. It wasn't hard to believe that Simon had murdered her. Perhaps it was in the heat of an argument. Perhaps he'd simply had enough of her. But the other bodies didn't make any sense to her. Why kill Michael? And what connection did the two young men they found have to the family. Were they lodgers? Were they Dorothy's lovers? Paying customers?

The waitress slipped her pen from her breast pocket and wrote something on a napkin before passing it to the young man. Sharon watched them give each other suggestive smiles and suddenly she felt herself grow cold. Her mind spun and she looked over at Flynn.

"What if they did it together?" She asked him. Flynn frowned at her, his eyes shifting from her to the couple she had been watching and then back to her.

"Who?"

"Dorothy and Simon Hall," she said, feeling her skin tingle. "What if this was an escalation of their relationship? Dorothy could have invited these young men into her home. Simon Hall may have liked to watch her having sex with them or maybe he murdered them to punish Dorothy for her infidelity."

"Lovers united in murder," Flynn smirked and Sharon could tell he wasn't really buying what she was saying.

"They wouldn't be the first," she said pointedly.

"But they're rare," Flynn said, scratching his chin. "If they were robbers, identity thieves, fraudsters, I can see them doing it but murder...? And with four kids in the house?"

"It's not like they were model parents," Sharon argued. "I doubt either of them really cared for the children, Simon Hall's testimony defines his love for his children perfectly."

"I guess there's only one way to find out if your right," Flynn stood up and moved over to the counter to pick up their orders.

"You're suggesting talking to Simon Hall?" She asked as she moved to stand next to him. She took the cartons he passed to her and waited for him to collect the rest before moving outside to his car.

"I think we should visit Doctor Morales on our way in," he said, unlocking the car for them both to get in.

-x-

Doctor Morales was in his office finishing his lunch when Sharon and Flynn found him. He gave them a look that said they were interrupting his break and Sharon gave him an apologetic smile.

"I have some questions about the bodies," she said to him.

"Best talk to Owen," he replied, leading them to an autopsy suite further down the corridor. Doctor Morales opened the door after a loud rap against the metal and stepped through. Doctor Horton was standing over one of the bodies, his special examination glasses making his eyes seem large and bug like. "Captain Raydor has some questions for you."

Doctor Horton looked up and froze for a moment. Sharon and Flynn walked further into the room while Doctor Morales left. Doctor Horton quickly snatched the glasses from his face and smoothed his hair down. "Captain Raydor," he greeted her with a shy smile.

"How far have you got on the bodies?" She asked him.

"There's still a long way to go but I think I might have found hard evidence of cause of death," he said, indicating for her to follow him. "There is a fracture on both bodies here, at the base of the neck." He pointed it out to them. "This will have been caused by pressure, a lot of pressure. This, along with the belts, would conclude that the victims were strangled."

"You don't say," Flynn mumbled under his breath. Sharon looked toward him briefly then turned fully to face him when she registered the look on his face. Flynn looked angry. He was staring at Doctor Horton in the same way he did when he was faced with a murder suspect. She narrowed her eyes at him and gave him a questioning incline of her head. Flynn just shook his head and looked away from her. Thankfully, Doctor Horton didn't seem to notice.

"There's one thing though," Doctor Horton continued, beckoning Sharon to the other end of the table to show her the ankles of both bodies. "See those marks?"

"What are they?" Sharon could see indents on the bones.

"I'm not sure yet," Doctor Horton said. He moved away from her and Sharon felt Flynn step into his place. He leaned down to look at the indents and he raised an eyebrow at her. They both turned to look at Doctor Horton when he continued to talk. "They look like they could have been done by something tied around their ankles. Maybe shackles that cut deeply into the skin. I'll need to work with my team to find out what's imbedded in the bone to give you more of an accurate theory but until then, I'm afraid that's all I have."

"These young men," Sharon started as she walked around the tables, looking at the two unidentified males. "How easy would it have been to do this to them?"

Doctor Horton considered her question for a moment, his arms crossing over his chest. "They were young men and from their bone structures and density, I'd say they were healthy and most likely quite strong. I'd guess that they would need to be drugged first before getting them into such a position that these men died in. I can't imagine tying them up and fixing the belt on their heads would have been an easy task if they were fully conscious."

"Could there have been two murderers?" She asked.

"Two people would be better than one," Doctor Horton nodded. "Even if the men were drugged, they would still be difficult to manage alone."

Sharon glanced toward Flynn who nodded in agreement, convinced by her theory with the doctor's conclusion. "So I guess we need to look at this from another angle," Flynn sighed. Sharon nodded and turned a smile to the Doctor.

"Thank you for your help Doctor Horton," she said. Doctor Horton pulled off his gloves and offered her his hand. After a moments hesitation, Sharon clasped his hand and they shook. Her eyes flickered to Flynn, who now wore the same expression as Provenza had earlier.

"I'd prefer it if you called me Owen," he smiled and looked deeply into her. Sharon pulled her hand away from his and stepped back.

"I'll look forward to reading your full report on this," she said, changing the subject.

"I'll bring it up when I'm done," he said, moving toward her. Sharon noticed the way one of his hands reached for her and never in her life had she been more grateful of having Andrew Flynn by her side. He stepped forward and patted the doctor on the shoulder a little harder than necessary, effectively stopping him in his tracks.

"Thanks for your help doc," he said with his usual grin. "How about you send that report up to me, I'll be briefing the Captain on the details." Without waiting for a response, Flynn turned and headed for the door. As he walked by her, Sharon felt his hand on her shoulder and he turned her around to usher her out of the door before him. His hand fell to her lower back as they walked toward the elevator and once inside he turned to look at her with a frown.

"I don't like him."

Sharon rolled her eyes at the similarities of the way Provenza had responded to the young doctor. "You and Provenza are over analysing things," she said as she pushed the button to her floor. "He's a little intense-"

"Is that what we're calling it now?"

Sharon ignored him. "I don't need you or Provenza acting like body guards," she said.

"The asshole's creepy," Flynn countered.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," she said to him as she stepped out of the elevator and made their way to the murder room.

When they stepped inside Provenza stood up and walked with them to her office. "Julio checked in while you were out," he started. Sharon took a seat and looked up at her two Lieutenants. "They've got two more bodies, one found in the loft space and the forensic anthropologists at the scene said it's a young male, probably the in same age range as the others. He looks like he's been there longer than the others but they need DNA to confirm it. Doctors Horton and Morales will look into it when it arrives at the morgue."

"Where are we with identifying these bodies?" Sharon asked, thinking that with more and more bodies turning up the press were going to jump on it. They needed identifications sooner rather than later.

"Tao and Sykes are still working their way through the missing persons database but they have very little to go on," Provenza explained.

"Could we ask Doctor Morales for x-rays on the victim's teeth?" Sharon looked to Flynn who nodded. "We might be able to match them up with someone from their short list."

"What about the second body they recovered?" Flynn asked, turning to Provenza who flipped open his notebook.

"The second one took them by surprise," Provenza said looking at them with a knowing smile. Sharon and Flynn shared a quick look.

"Why?" She asked.

"It's female."

Sharon's eyebrows shot up in surprise and she leaned back in her chair. "Agnes Hall?"

"Don't know," Provenza sighed. "The skull was pretty damaged so they need to reconstruct it to get face markers."

"What about a DNA test?" Flynn asked.

"Apparently the body was found in the floor boards of one of the bedrooms," Provenza explained. "It has some kind of fungus growing on it; it might screw up the DNA results." Sharon tried not to think too much about what the body must look like, her lunch sitting on her desk looking less and less appealing.

"I'll get Agnes Hall's dental and hospital records," Flynn said to Sharon. "Once they've reconstructed the skull we might be able to compare the results."

"Thank you Andy," Sharon said to him as she watched him walk out of her office.

"Should I call Helen in?" Provenza asked after a moment.

Sharon nodded but indicated for him to sit down before he left. She filled him in on her theory about the Hall's murdering together and Provenza nodded as she spoke. She recited what Doctor Horton had told her and waited for his response.

"Only way you'll know for sure is if you speak to Simon Hall," Provenza said to her. Sharon sighed.

"I was afraid you were going to say that," she said.

"You anxious about speaking to him?" Provenza asked with a frown and Sharon knew he was thinking it was out of character for her.

"No," she said. "I've just been putting it off."

"From what I hear he's a creep with charm," Provenza leaned back in his chair.

"Our last run in did not go well," she said, running her hand through her hair. "He likes to play games. He acts innocent, pushing the blame onto others. If he sees a weakness he jumps on it and gets into your head."

"You want me and Sanchez to have a go at him?" Provenza offered.

"You can be in the room," she said. "But I want to speak to him myself."

Provenza nodded and left her office to make the arrangements.

Sharon turned her chair around to look out of her window, trying to ignore the swirling movement in her stomach at the thought of once again coming face to face with Simon Hall.

* * *

**Gosh I need sleep – it's almost 1am! So excited to see the final episode of MC in the morning! James Duff's preview of the episode has me on edge and excited for the final scene in Sharon's office. I think my head is going to explode!**

**Anyway, thanks so much for reading and I'd love to know what you thought. No spoilers on tonight's episode though – we can discuss once I've seen it :D Nighty night! xxx**


	5. Chapter 5

**A merry evening to you all!**

**Check out this super quick update *the crowd goes wild* Thank you, thank you!**

**So today I had to lead a board meeting at work, which is not something I normally do but I'm covering a role (as well as my own) while we recruit a new team member. I was so nervous in the build up to the meeting, trying to keep 12 rich old men under control and on topic is never easy, so I did the only thing I could. I donned my highest heels (adding four inches to my 5'3), a black pencil skirt, red shirt and black jacket and strutted into the room like Raydor from her FID days. Yeah dude! And whenever they started to have a disagreement I channelled my inner bad ass Sharon when she's dealing with that rapist in episode 18_ 'Enough, enough!'_ So you see, watching Major Crimes has not only enriched my life but it's made me bad ass at my job! But I never want to lead one of those meetings again, they're like 5 year olds on a sugar high.**

**I'm in a super good mood... maybe I'm on a sugar high... maybe a Raydor high...**

**Anyhoo...**

**Thank you to everyone that has reviewed! The response I've been getting from this has been extraordinary and I can't even begin to tell you how happy you have all made me. I hope you enjoy the next chapter and I'll try to get another one out soon. Work is about to get really busy but I'll try my hardest to keep up with regular updates!**

**I hope you're all keeping well and remember, embrace your inner Raydor!**

**Lillibet x**

**p.s. season finale? *head explodes EVERYWHERE!* Tell me what you thought of it! x**

* * *

Lower than the Ground

"Sharon?"

She looked up at Rusty. They were sitting at the dining room table. Rusty pushed his empty plate away from him and Sharon looked down at the food that still filled her plate. She put her fork down and looked over at him.

"Sorry Rusty, my mind seems to be on other things." She pushed her plate away.

"Do you want something else?" He asked, collecting their plates and taking them to the kitchen. Sharon smiled at him, warmth flooding her stomach as she watched him cleaning up as he knew she liked. "I could make you a sandwich or a salad," he opened the fridge. "Or you still have some of that granola stuff in here."

"I'm fine Rusty," she said. Rusty turned and observed her for a moment.

"Coffee?"

She shook her head.

"Tea?"

"Come sit down," she patted the table where he had been sat.

"Am I in trouble?" He asked as he walked toward her.

Sharon smiled at him. "No."

"Then what's going on?" He sat down and leaned his elbow on the table, his head propped up on the heal of his hand.

"I'm just thinking about the case," she shook her head to let him know she didn't want to talk about it. Her impending interview with Simon Hall had filled her thoughts enough for the evening, and she didn't want him to invade her home anymore than he already had. "Are you looking forward to starting back at school?"

He shrugged. "Yes," he looked down at the glass of water he had in front of him. He twisted the glass around with his free hand. "No."

"It's ok to be nervous," she said to him.

"It's not that, well not completely," he said looking up at her. "So much has changed since I was last there."

Sharon nodded in understanding. "But no one will know what happened if you don't tell them. Your life is exactly that, it's yours. The kids at school don't need to know."

"They'll want to know where I've been..." He took a deep breath and Sharon, now able to see when he was on the verge of panic, touched his shoulder to calm him down.

"You don't have to go back Rusty," she said to him, brushing her finger tips through the hair at his temple. "I only spoke to the school governors because you seemed so eager to get back, but if you're not ready then that's ok."

"I want to finish school though Sharon," his eyes began to fill with tears.

"And you will," she scooted her chair closer to him, her fingers still reassuringly combing through his hair. "But you can continue your course online until you feel ready to go back. I've said it before Rusty, there's no pressure."

"I just... when I think about going back and... and seeing Kris and thinking about..."

"Honey," she moved his head so that he was looking at her. "You've been through more than most of the kids at school ever will in their lifetimes. And through all of that you've also made some very significant self discoveries. I'm proud of you. So proud of you Rusty. Remember that."

"I think I'm going to take a shower," he said quietly. Sharon leaned back and nodded, giving him a loving smile. "Maybe we could watch a movie if you don't have work to do."

She thought about the interview transcripts from Simon Hall's interviews in 1979 that she needed to read. "Sure," she said, knowing she would have to stay up late to read them. Rusty was in a delicate place, more so than he had been when he first came to live with her. His new willingness to show her how much he needed her proved just how much he was changing. He needed her now more than ever. "And we can eat those brownies too."

"I thought you said they were off limits," he smirked.

"I didn't say to who," she smirked and Rusty laughed. He rose from his chair and Sharon followed suit. She picked up their water glasses and was about to take them into the kitchen when Rusty stepped toward her and wrapped his arms around her neck. She awkwardly managed to place the glasses back on the table and she hugged him back.

"Thank you Sharon," he whispered into her hair.

"I'm always here for you Rusty," she said as she rubbed his back. "Even if it seems like there's a lot going on with work I always have time for you. Just talk to me."

"I will," he promised.

"Go take your shower," she pulled back and raised her hands to his cheeks, she looked into his watery eyes.

Rusty looked as if he wanted to say something else but he didn't and she didn't push him. She watched him shuffle down the hallway to the bathroom and once she heard the door close she released the breath she was holding.

-x-

Sharon walked into the visitors room and her eyes locked with Simon Hall's. He smirked, his eyes wandering over her making her feel like her skin was crawling.

"Detective McMurphy, looks like the little girl isn't so little any more," Hall said as she took a seat. Sharon tried to keep her face impassive as she observed the man sitting in front of her.

"Time passes," she said, thankful that she had taken Provenza up on his offer and had him and Sanchez sit in on the interview with her.

"And it's been good to you," he leered. Time had not been good to him. 35 years in jail had left him looking unwell, he was a greyish colour, the patches of hair on his head completely white. He sat leaning to his left and when he moved he seemed stiff; perhaps an old injury acquired during his sentence that had not healed properly.

"Mr Hall," she began, ignoring his statement. "I am Captain Raydor-"

"Raydor? The little girl got married," Hall smirked and leaned forward in his chair.

"-and this is Lieutenant Provenza and Detective Sanchez," she finished, not really listening to what Hall was saying. She knew her best defence in this interview was to not give him the chance to work his way into her head. "Do you know why we're here?"

"Let me guess," he made an act of pretending to think on her words. She sensed the look Provenza and Sanchez shared over her head. "You've looked into the evidence again and you're here to tell me that you made a mistake. I'm free to go." He leaned back in his chair, a smug smile on his face as he watched them.

"I'm afraid not," Sharon smiled and leaned toward him, getting ready to reverse their roles in this game he had set up. "We found your son, Simon," she said, tilting her head to look at him.

"You found Michael?" Hall sat up straight in his chair, his eyes narrowing.

"And he's telling us a very different story to the one you told us," she knew she wasn't sticking to the original plan that she had discussed with Provenza earlier that morning but she found herself wanting to taunt Simon Hall.

"You can't have found Michael," Hall snapped, his cool exterior and smug expression slipping away from him.

"Why is that?" Sharon asked, looking back to Provenza who leaned forward with a smirk.

"Is that because you know Michael's dead?" he asked, in a dark tone that Sharon rarely heard from him.

Hall looked between all three of them, his breathing coming in quick short puffs. His forehead was dotted with sweat and his fingers played with the chain tying his cuffs to the table. "My son is dead?" He shook his head and looked up at the ceiling. "What did that bitch do to him?" He asked, lowering his eyes to Sharon.

"Who are you referring to Mr Hall?" She asked.

"Dorothy!" He spat, throwing himself over the desk only to be stopped by the chain. Sharon felt Provenza's hand on her arm and she noticed Sanchez take a step forward. "She always hated that boy."

"Did she?" she asked calmly. Moving her arm away from Provenza, Sharon opened the file and pulled out the transcript of his original interview. "Because in the interview you gave with my colleague back in 1979, you said that Michael hated your wife. I'm just trying to clarify your point on this." She gave him a smile that told him she wasn't going to let him have it easy.

"They hated each other," he said to her. His smile slowly reappeared and he slouched back down in his chair. "Probably did it in the heat of another argument."

"You mean as you did with your wife?" Sharon asked, pulling a collection of photos from the file. "Or were you referring to these men?" She set the photos out on the table and observed him. His face was tense, his eyes flickering over each of the photos. He reached out to touch one of the photos but once again the chains held him back.

"Who are they?" He asked in a strained voice.

"We were hoping you could tell us," she answered him.

"Me?" He looked up at her with those same pleading eyes that she'd seen when he'd been marched from the court house after his trial. "How would I know?"

"We found these bodies in your basement Mr Hall," Sanchez said in a deep voice,stepping forward with a confident stance. "Tell us who they are."

"I don't know who they are!" Hall said adamantly. "I don't know why they were there!"

"Listen-"

Sharon touched Sanchez's arm softly and he stopped talking. He took a step back, his face still glowering at Hall. This was one suspect who would not be intimidated by Sanchez's tough demeanour. If anything, it would only fuel Hall's enjoyment of the game.

"Simon," Sharon called his attention back to her. "Are you sure you knew nothing about these bodies?"

"I bet it was her," Hall said with a sneer. "I bet Dorothy did it, she probably made Agnes and Michael join in. That's probably why my beautiful son hated her so much."

"Were there ever men in your home? Friends of your children, lodgers perhaps?"

Sharon watched Hall's whole appearance change without warning. His face relaxed and a knowing smile replaced the pleading look. Sharon knew what he was doing. She had watched him carefully through the one way mirror back in 1979, observed his mannerisms. He was getting ready to up the stakes.

"Little Shea."

Sharon froze at the sound of the name and she tried to keep her face neutral. Hall laughed, which told her that she hadn't been successful. Something she did had given her away.

Hall smirked and leered over at her again. "Do you mind if I call you Shea?"

"I'd prefer it if you call me Captain Raydor," she said through tight lips.

"Come on Shea, we're all friends here," he leaned back in his chair, his eyes taking her in. "Or do only certain people get to call you Shea?" He lifted his eyebrows suggestively.

"I think we're done here," Provenza said suddenly. "It's clear he isn't going to cooperate."

"You're only making this harder on yourself," Sanchez said darkly from his corner.

"And here I thought we were having fun," Hall laughed, his eyes still focused on Sharon.

Provenza rose from his seat and Sharon followed suit, collecting the photos and placing them back in the folder. "When you're ready to talk-"

"I know where to find you," Hall said ominously. "I look forward to our next visit, Shea."

Sharon walked out of the room, her head held high, trying not to show how much Hall's taunting had gotten to her. Once the door was closed she let out a shaky breath and turned to her detectives.

"The reports were right," Sanchez started. "The guys a creep."

"Sanchez why don't you bring the car around while we finish up here," Provenza said, giving the younger man a look that asked him to take his time.

Sharon leaned against the wall and watched Sanchez walk down the hallway. Provenza hung around out of her line of sight and she knew what was coming. When Sanchez had disappeared from sight, she tilted her head to the ceiling and sighed.

"How did he know that name?" She asked out loud.

"What does it mean?" Provenza asked gently.

"It's a nickname," she said, hugging the file to her chest and looking down at the ground.

"He could have heard it during the last case," Provenza said with a shrug.

"No," she shook her head and looked up at him. "My father is the only one that calls me that." She suddenly felt sick and she took a deep breath. Provenza stepped closer to her and briefly touched her arm.

"You said it yourself," he said in a quiet voice. "He likes to play games. He's trying to get into your head."

Sharon closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. Provenza was right. It didn't matter how Hall had managed to find out her childhood nickname she couldn't allow him to shake her up. She had ignored her own advice; _never let him see you sweat_. She opened her eyes and looked at her lieutenant. She gave a nod at his questioning eyes and began to walk toward the exit.

-x-

Sharon sat in the break room with Rusty, a coffee clasped between her hands as she listened to him talking about an essay he was working on for his online course.

"Are you ok?"

Sharon looked at Rusty with a frown but soon realised it wasn't him talking. She turned around in her chair to see Flynn standing in the doorway, watching her. Sharon turned back to Rusty, who was now looking at her with concern.

"Why don't you go see if you can borrow a laptop from Buzz to finish your essay?" She said to Rusty. His eyes lingered on her for a moment and Sharon reached forward to squeeze his hand reassuringly. He smiled slightly then gathered his belongings and left the room. Sharon indicated for Flynn to take his seat.

"Sorry," he said. "I didn't mean for the kid to worry."

"Rusty worries even when there's nothing to worry about," she shrugged and sipped her coffee.

"Provenza told me what happened," he said after a moment. "You ok?"

"It just bugs me," she said leaning forward on her elbows and looking at him. "How did he know?"

"I've been thinking about that," he said, pulling a small note book from the breast pocket of his jacket, and opening it to a page he'd marked. "When you type your name into Google it brings up several cases you worked on. Mostly news reports of Officer Involved Shootings. But I tried typing your maiden name in and I found an old high school photo of you and your swim team. It has a quote from your father under it which mentions your nickname."

Sharon closed her eyes at the memory of it. Her last photo with her swim team before she left for college. "He's been reading up on me."

"What concerns me is why," Flynn said, mirroring her position against the table and leaning toward her. "Why is he looking for information on you? And better yet, how did he know you were even working the case again?"

Sharon eyed him warily. "You're back on Helen, aren't you?"

"Come on Sharon," Flynn sighed. Sharon could see that he was getting frustrated with her reluctance to entertain the thought that Helen Hall could be involved any more than she had confessed. However, in a way that was very unlike him, Flynn managed to keep his annoyance at bay. "You have to admit that it's fishy."

"Simon has been left in that prison to brew over the events of that time," she said to him. "He knew that we would eventually find the other bodies and he knew we would be back to speak to him. He could have heard about it in the news and it wouldn't be the first time the team has been filmed working on the case. He could have seen my picture, read my profile on the LAPD website and made the connections. As far as I am aware, and from the prison records Mike requested, Helen Hall's name has never shown up as a visitor."

"She wouldn't be the first to give a false name," Flynn said through gritted teeth. Sharon sighed and shook her head. They were silent for a moment.

"I spent a lot of time with Helen and Julie when they were girls," Sharon said, her voice sounded vulnerable and she hated it. "And they _were_ little girls. I can't believe that they had anything to do with this."

"How do you know that they haven't mastered the skill of deception like their father?" He asked. Sharon looked down into her coffee and she felt Flynn touch her hand softly.

"I don't," her chest tightened and she felt Flynn's fingers close around her hand.

"Then why is it so hard to believe?"

Sharon looked up at him, taking a breath to keep her tears at bay. "It's just... I have this feeling," she pressed her free hand to her stomach and shook her head. "I don't know... I can't really explain it but I just know, _I know_, that they didn't have anything to do with it."

Flynn nodded at her words and he smiled slightly. "I learned long ago not to ignore a gut instinct," he said to her. Sharon laughed.

"Which is why you'll keep pushing your theory," she stated. Flynn nodded.

"But if you give the order I'll drop it," he said to her. Sharon looked down at their hands for a moment then squeezed his fingers reassuringly before letting go.

"I'm too close to this," she said, standing from her chair. "I need someone to look into it because I can't..." She felt her throat close up and nervously touched her lips as she looked away from Flynn. She was too emotionally involved with this family, she knew it.

"I've got it," he said, standing up next to her. She felt him place a hand on her shoulder and turn her toward him. "I'll keep working it and if I find anything, I'll let you know."

Sharon nodded and rubbed a hand down his arm. "Thank you Andy," she said as she turned and walked out of the break room.

-x-

"I have something," Tao announced from his desk.

Sharon heard him ask Sanchez to get her and she was already on her way out of her office when he approached her.

"Tao's got something ma'am," he said to her.

"Thank you Julio," she brushed her hand over his forearm as she passed him. "What do you have Mike?"

"Daniel Trenton," Tao jumped out of his chair and ran to the printer. "Disappeared after taking a bus to LA to start his career in the film industry, he was reported missing by his mother when he failed to call her after he got here." He handed Sharon the report he had just printed out and she dove right into it.

"What makes you think it's one of our boys?" She asked. Tao strode to the photographs of the bodies pinned to the murder board. He pointed to the third body.

"Our third body excavated showed evidence of having broken his legs when he was younger. They were professionally set and well healed, Doctor Horton almost missed it."

"Do we have DNA from a living family member?" Sharon asked, ignoring the clatter of coins when Provenza shook his jar at Tao.

"His mother died four years ago and I'm having difficulty tracking down his sister," Tao said as he slotted his quarters into the jar. "But the break to his right leg was so bad that there was metal plating screwed into the bones. Doctor Morales is getting us the serial number and I've already requested Daniel's medical records be sent to us. Once we have the number we'll be able to check them against the surgery information, see if we get a match."

"And if we get an ID on him then it will narrow down the results for the other victims," Sykes said from her desk.

"Yes," Sharon said with a smile. "We'll have a time frame to work from."

"And a possible area to focus on," Sanchez added. "Maybe it was a favourite spot for Hall to pick up his victims."

"Good work Mike," Sharon patted his shoulder and headed back to her office.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed! It was really fun to write, especially the section with Simon Hall... what does that say about me? Hmmm.**

**Thanks for reading and remember to let me know what you thought! xxx**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey look at that, it's another chapter! **

**Evening all, I hope you're all well. So here is the next chapter. I've been writing more since Major Crimes went on hiatus in a bid to help me get over my denial that I have wait months for a new episode. It's kinda working... until I stop writing and then it just slaps me in the face like a big wet fish. Please tell me you feel my pain!**

**Anyway... I've got a few busy days coming up so I'm not sure when I'll have the next chapter out but I'll try to get one to you as soon as possible! I hope you're all still enjoying it and thanks for sticking with me.**

**For anyone that has twitter or tumblr or livejournal then come say hi or follow/add me. I use Lillibet426 as my handle on all platforms. I love making new friends and the people I've already met are awesome – shout out to two very lovely ladies ilonacari and dearvia – come join us on twitter and join in our denial that Major Crimes is on hiatus. **

**A quick thanks to everyone that has reviewed or read this fic – your support means the world to me!**

**Lillibet x**

* * *

Lower than the Ground

Sharon walked out of her office, her hands tucked in the pockets of her pants. Tao spotted her and jumped from his seat, dashing toward her with a file in his hand.

"Captain." He caught her attention and she looked over at him.

"Yes, Lieutenant," she folded her arms over her chest.

"I have the medical reports for Daniel Trenton," he held the report up for her to look at. Sharon raised her eyebrows and moved closer to him.

"Is it him?" She asked, hopeful.

"I was just about to head down to see Doctor Morales," he said.

"Well I was going down for an update," she said as she indicated for him to go with her. She stopped by Sykes's desk, noticing that both Provenza and Flynn were missing from their desks, and touched the younger woman's shoulder. "You'll call if anything comes in?"

"Got it," Sykes nodded.

"Says here that Daniel received multiple surgeries to fully fix his legs," Tao said as they headed down to the morgue.

"And if we can get a serial number on the metal splints on the third body we can match it up with what is in Daniel's file?" She asked.

"That's the idea," Tao said, his voice sounding hopeful.

"God, I hope it's him," Sharon said, leaning back against the elevator wall. "We really need a break on this case."

"From what Doctor Horton has discovered and from speaking with Doctor Morales, I'm fairly certain that we have the right man," Tao said to her.

"But let's not get our hopes up until we know for sure," she gave a weak smile and Tao nodded.

Tao put his hand in front of the elevator doors to hold them open and allowed Sharon to walk out first. He followed, hot on her heels as he continued to talk. "Have you had an update on the other bodies yet?"

"No," she said. "That's what I'm hoping to find out about now."

They both walked into the autopsy bay to find Doctor Morales waiting. He turned at the sound of the door opening.

"Good afternoon," he smiled to them both and Sharon returned the salutation.

"What do you have for us?" She asked, walking with him to the body laid out on the table.

"This is your third body," he said, leaning against the table and looking over at both Sharon and Tao. "Owen and I cleaned the serial number on the metal plating as best we could," he donned a pair of gloves and lifted the bone for them to see. "Here it is."

Sharon stepped aside and Tao peered down at the bone. He lifted the file and checked the numbers against what he had. Sharon found herself hoping for it to be a match. They just needed this piece of evidence, just this and they could piece together a timeline of events.

After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably less than 15 seconds, Tao snapped his file shut and looked over at her. She realised her hands were fidgeting by her side with her growing frustration and she quickly tucked them in her pockets. She licked her lips. "Well?"

"It's a match," Tao gave her a broad smile and Sharon couldn't help but return it. Her chest exploding with relief at the news. She took a deep breath to control herself before speaking.

"Mike, have Amy pull the records you were looking at and have everyone back in the office to help narrow down possible matches. I want you to lead on the timeline of events."

"Yes ma'am," Tao gave her another grin and she touched his arm briefly before he walked out of the room.

"You look happy," Doctor Morales said to her as he walked around the table.

"Lieutenant Tao's discovery will help us to identify the other victims," she said to him, unable to repress her smile.

"Then I take it you'd like to know more about the fourth and fifth bodies," he stated.

"What are your thoughts?" She asked.

"The male you brought in has the same markers as the second body and the third... I guess we can start calling him Daniel now." He gave a sad smile and Sharon nodded. "Owen is fairly certain that the bodies were put into the ground between 38 and 45 years ago. He's working on getting a more accurate time frame now and he should have something on the second body in the next few hours. The latest victims will take longer because they've only just come in."

"What can you tell me about the female that was brought in?" She asked.

"We've got a specialist in to reconstruct the skull. Lieutenant's Flynn and Provenza dropped Agnes Hall's dental records in with Owen a little while ago so we can match them up once-" Doctor Morales stopped talking and Sharon realised her surprise must have shown on her face.

"They came down here?" She asked, realising why her two Lieutenant's had been missing from the murder room.

"They didn't tell you?" Doctor Morales folded his arms over his chest, a hint of amusement in his voice.

Sharon sighed and wondered if she should ask her next question. "And did they see Doctor Horton?"

Doctor Morales nodded. "They seemed very interested in our new friend," Doctor Morales gave her a look that said he knew something was going on. "They had a lot of questions for him." Sharon tried to ignore him and she turned her attention to the bones of Daniel Trenton. "Owen's cute," Doctor Morales said with a grin.

Sharon leaned down to look closer at the bones. "He's very young," she said with an air of disinterest.

"He's vivacious," Doctor Morales wiggled his shoulders slightly.

Sharon glanced up at Doctor Morales with a smirk. "And a little over enthusiastic," she said, straightening up.

"That's never a bad thing," he waved his hand at her.

"Only when it borders on the side of sleazy," she crossed her arms over her chest. "We need a more definitive time of death. If Doctor Horton can give us his results as soon as possible we can narrow down the missing persons reports we have up stairs."

"So we're not talking about Owen Horton anymore?" Doctor Morales looked at her for a moment and Sharon narrowed her eyes at him until he sighed. "I'll speak to Owen, see what we can do."

"Thank you," she smiled at him and began to walk to the door.

"Maybe I'll send Owen up with the reports," Doctor Morales said to her. As Sharon opened the door she turned to look at him over her shoulder.

"I'd rather you didn't," she said with a chuckle, stepping through the door and allowing it to close behind her.

-x-

As Sharon stepped into the elevator her thoughts went to Helen. She hadn't really spoken to her since she'd first informed her that they had found a male body where she had said they would. She knew that Provenza had spoken to her briefly in preparation of their interview with Simon Hall but Sharon knew that it was about time that she spoke to the woman herself.

The elevator slowed and she looked up at the floor numbers to see that she had stopped at the cafeteria level. When the doors opened her eyes immediately narrowed when she recognised the two men standing before her. Lieutenant's Flynn and Provenza were arguing about something, their hands gesticulating wildly as they argued in strained whispers. They were so engrossed in their discussion that they hadn't realised the elevator had stopped. She pressed her hand against the doors to stop them from closing and cleared her throat to get their attention. She watched the two men frown at the sound, she could see the confusion on their faces as they realised that the noise hadn't come from them. She tried to keep herself from smiling as they slowly looked toward the elevator and realised it had been her.

"Sharon..." Flynn started but stopped when Provenza shot him a deadly glare.

"Are you coming or not?" She asked them, indicating to the elevator. The two men shared a cautious glance and she began to grow impatient with them. "Get in!"

They quickly jumped into the elevator, passing by her to stand just behind her. In silence, Sharon pressed the button to the ninth floor again and the doors slowly closed. She could see Provenza and Flynn's blurry outline in the metal doors in front of her; they had resumed their argument in silence, but their hands were moving around with as much energy as they had when they were in a less confined space.

"Lieutenant Flynn," she watched his outline freeze. "Any news on Agnes Hall's dental records?"

"Oh I er..." he paused and Sharon watched the two men's reflections lean into each other before he spoke again. "I took them down to Doctor Horton," he said, eventually, earning a grumble from Provenza.

Sharon nodded and looked up at the floor numbers again. Just before the got to the ninth floor, Sharon pushed the emergency stop button and they jerked to a stop. She turned to look at Provenza and Flynn in time to see their panicked faces as they looked around to see what had happened.

"And it took the two of you to take the records down to the morgue?" She asked them, ignoring the looks they gave her.

"I just went down to get an update," Provenza said with a shrug. He fiddled with the knot of his tie. "I don't like enclosed spaces."

"Get used to it," she snapped at him. "What is going on with you two?"

Provenza jerked his thumb in Flynn's direction. "He was going down to speak to Doctor Horton and I tagged along to make sure he didn't do anything stupid," he said quickly. Sharon rolled her eyes as Flynn rounded on Provenza.

"What?!" Flynn's face was growing red and Sharon knew that this was about to become another one of their infamous moments. "You were the one who started in with all the questions!"

"And who was it who had to be dragged from the room after hearing the answers to those questions, huh?" Provenza challenged.

"You've got some nerve..." Flynn began, puffing his chest out.

"I've got some nerve?" Provenza barked a laugh and Sharon crossed her arms over her chest.

"Yeah you!"

"Enough!" She snapped loudly. Provenza and Flynn seemed surprised that she was still there. They took a step back from each other and stared at the floor like naughty children preparing themselves to be scolded. "Honestly," Sharon said with a sigh. "There's no wonder the two of you are divorced!" She realised that what had meant to be an internal thought, she had actually said out loud. Provenza and Flynn turned their anger on to her but before they could start in on her, she continued speaking. "Now I realise that the two of you have taken it upon yourselves to be my personal body guards but I don't need it. Whatever this thing is that you've taken up against Doctor Horton, has to stop now!" She gave them both a hard look. "Do I make myself clear?"

They nodded, both of them looking sheepish. "Yeah," they said in unison.

"Good," she sighed. "Because while the two of you were acting like over protective brothers, Lieutenant Tao was able to confirm that the third body is indeed Daniel Trenton."

"Brothers?" Flynn mumbled, shaking his head at the ceiling. Sharon frowned and started to say something but Provenza interrupted her.

"That's great," Provenza said eagerly, shooting a glared at his partner. "We'll be able to get a timeline."

"Lieutenant Tao is leading on the timeline of events and I need you, Lieutenant Flynn, to help in narrowing down the missing person files." She looked at him expectantly and Flynn eventually nodded. She glanced toward Provenza who gave her a look that said not to worry. She glanced at Flynn one last time before turning to the panel and pushing the stop button again. The elevator sprung to life and they soon arrived at the ninth floor.

"Why don't you head in and see what you can do?" Provenza said to Flynn.

Flynn nodded and sighed. "Sure."

Sharon watched Flynn walk down the hall and when she was sure he was out of ear shot she turned to look at Provenza. "Spill."

"Me and Flynn just wanted to find out a little more about the Doctor," he said with an apologetic shrug. "It might have gotten a little out of hand."

"Why am I not surprised?" She rolled her eyes. They began to slowly walk toward Major Crimes. "And is he ok?" Provenza looked at her with a frown and she realised he thought they were still talking about Horton. "Andy, is he ok? He's seems a little..."

"Crazy?" Provenza finished for her. Sharon frowned at him, her concern for Andy was honest. Provenza shrugged again. "He's just in another one of his moods."

Sharon thought back to the last time Flynn had experienced 'one of his moods' and she grew even more worried. "Is he having trouble with his family again?" She asked.

"Isn't he always?" Provenza scoffed. "It's probably just that ex-wife of his, she's a..." They stopped outside the Major Crimes division and Sharon raised an eyebrow at him as he ruminated on the appropriate word to use in front of her. "Well... you've met her," he said eventually, his grin contagious. She shook her head and chuckled softly.

"Do you think it would help if I talked to him?" She asked after a moment.

"God no!" Provenza jumped, the humour in his eyes quickly replaced by something close to panic. "No, no, no. Just leave him to me."

"You promise to leave Doctor Horton alone?" She held him with a hard stare and he nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he mumbled as they continued their way into Major Crimes.

They passed the team who were all working busily, talking on phones and hastily moving around the office to check information. Sharon began to fill Provenza in on what he'd missed as they made their way into her office.

"I'd like to bring Helen in," she said to him, watching the team through the glass. "Could you arrange for her to come in before the end of the day and have Buzz rig up the Break Room so you can follow along in Electronics?"

Provenza nodded and gave her slight smile as he left her office and made his way over to his desk.

Sharon leaned against her desk and folded her arms over her chest as she continued to watch her team at work. Photo after photo was being added to the white board of possible ID's as they powered through the files. It felt good to know that they were closing in on identifying their victims. They would finally be given their individuality back and in a way they would be regaining the lives that had been torn away from them.

The hardest part was yet to come. They still needed that key piece of evidence to prove that Simon Hall was behind these murders too.

-x-

"She's here," Provenza said from her office doorway. Sharon looked up from her laptop and checked her watch.

"Is everything set up?" She asked, closing her laptop and rising from her chair. She smoothed down her clothing and tucked her hands into her jacket pockets.

"Buzz just gave us the thumbs up," he said. "We're good to go."

"Thank you Lieutenant," she moved toward him and they began to walk in the direction of the Break Room. "Lieutenant, while I'm in here, could you arrange for someone to drop Rusty off at home?"

"Sure," he said. They stopped outside the Break Room. "The kids been quiet, is he... ok?"

"He's fine," she sighed and looked through the glass of the Break Room to see Flynn sitting with Helen. "I think he's having second thoughts about going back to school."

"A few months ago it's all he was talking about," Provenza said with a soft chuckle.

"Things have changed," she shrugged.

"Yeah," he sighed. "I'll see to it that he gets home safe."

"Thank you Lieutenant," she smiled at him and entered the Break Room.

At the sound of the door opening and closing, Helen turned around in her chair and smiled when she saw it was Sharon. She rose from her seat. "Do you have any news for me?" She asked.

"Yes," Sharon touched the woman's shoulder and encouraged her to sit back down. Sharon took the seat next to her while Flynn remained sitting opposite them. "But we were hoping that you might be able to help us."

"I'll do whatever I can," Helen said, looking between her and Flynn.

"Let me start by saying that we're still waiting on DNA results from the body that we believe to be Michael, but our Medical Examiner and the Forensic Anthropologist working on the case are fairly sure that it is your brother." Sharon paused to allow Helen a moment to take the words in.

"God..." Helen took a shuddering breath. "I knew it would be him... I mean... I told you he was there but..."

"I know," Sharon laid her hand on top of Helen's. "It's still a shock to hear what we found."

"Yes," Helen used her free hand to wipe at the tears that had begun to flow down her cheeks. Flynn pushed a box of tissues toward them and Sharon plucked one out and handed it to Helen. "Have you spoken to him?" She asked suddenly. "Have you spoken to my father?"

"Yes," Sharon took a deep breath. "He seemed surprised to hear that Michael was down there."

"He just never stops, does he?" Helen said bitterly. "Now that you've found Michael he can't blame him anymore. Did he push it onto Agnes? Did he blame her for what he did?"

"He said your mother killed Michael," Flynn said. Helen looked over at him with surprise.

"My mother?" She asked, shaking her head. "My mother loved Michael. She always told us that she preferred sons; it was no secret that she wished she'd had more sons than daughters."

"Can you tell us anything about the day that you helped your father bury Michael?" Flynn asked. Helen looked toward Sharon.

"I think I remember them arguing... my mom and dad. I was getting ready for school and I could hear them arguing over Agnes. They argued a lot over Agnes before she disappeared and even more when she left." Helen took a breath and wiped at her eyes again. "I'm not sure if it happened on the day I..." she paused, her breathing became ragged and she covered her eyes with her free hand. Sharon looked over at Flynn as he rose from his chair and headed toward the water cooler. He returned with a glass filled with water and placed it in front of Helen. She took a few tentative sips and took a few extra tissues from the box. "I don't really remember much about that day, except what I've already told you."

"That's ok," Sharon rubbed her thumb over Helen's knuckles. "What you've already told us has helped."

"I wish I could help more," Helen said impatiently. "I want to make him pay for what he did to Michael."

"We're working on that," Sharon assured her. "Now, there are a few other things that I'd like to ask you Helen, if you feel up to answering a few more questions?"

Helen wiped at her eyes one last time and took a deep breath. "Sure."

"Do you ever remember there being any young men at your home?" Flynn asked. Helen frowned at him and then turned to Sharon.

"Young men?" She asked. "You mean, friends of Michael?"

"Did Michael have his friends over a lot?" Sharon asked.

"Not really," Helen shrugged. "None of us brought friends over very often but yeah, I think I remember Michael bringing people home."

"Do you remember any of their names?" Sharon asked.

"No," she said, scratching at her chin. "Not many came over and when they did they only came once," she gave Sharon a rueful smile. "Meeting my parents was enough to scare anyone away."

"These friends of Michael's," Flynn brought Helen's attention to him. "Did he know them from school?"

"No," Helen scoffed. "Michael dropped out of school when he was 13. I think he'd started working with dad for a while. He could have met his friends there. I never really asked..."

"That's ok," Sharon said, patting the woman's hand.

"Why are you asking about them?" Helen asked, looking at Sharon.

Sharon glanced over at Flynn for a moment, then glanced back at Helen. "When we began excavations in the basement of your family home, we came across a number of other bodies buried along with Michael."

Helen just stared at Sharon for a moment, her face one of horror. "Other... there were..." She covered her mouth. "How many?"

"We have four so far," Sharon said. "Five including Michael."

"What...? Were they...?" Helen let out a sob and began to chew on her nails. "Were they..."

"We have strong evidence that it was foul play," Flynn answered her, knowing what Helen was trying to ask.

"Which means that we're treating them as murders," Sharon filled in at Helen's blank look.

"When?" Helen asked. "When were they killed?"

"We're not sure," Sharon said softly, rubbing her hand over Helen's back in a bid to sooth her. "But we believe they were disposed of before Michael."

"So you're saying..." Helen covered her mouth with her hand again. "You're telling me that I lived in a house, I grew up in a house that was hiding four dead bodies?"

"So you can see why we wanted to speak to you about the young men visiting your home," Flynn said. Helen nodded and pressed the heels of both her hands into her eyes.

"How could I have missed that?" Helen asked, looking at both of them. Flynn looked over at Sharon and she knew he was asking himself the same thing. "How did we not know what was going on?"

"That's a good question," Flynn said, leaning toward her.

Sharon narrowed her eyes at him and told him that now wasn't the time to question her on his theory. "I'll have a police officer escort you home Helen," Sharon said, helping the woman stand from her seat. "I realise that this has been a lot to take in so why don't you go home and get some rest." Helen nodded at her. "But we need you to come back in and answer a few more questions for us."

"Anything I can do to help," Helen said, somewhat distractedly.

"I'll have someone call Joe so he can meet you at your home," Sharon said, holding Helen when she fell heavily into her chest.

"Thank you Sharon," Helen whispered. Sharon pulled back and smiled at her.

"Talk to Joe," Sharon advised. "Get a good night's sleep, you'll feel better afterward."

"Yeah," Helen said. Sharon grew worried. She knew this kind of news was enough to knock anyone off but Helen's sudden weakness was a cause for concern. "Thanks."

Sharon led Helen to the door where Provenza was already waiting to take her out to a car. She watched them walk toward the elevators and she felt Flynn step up beside her.

"What do you think?" She asked, not needing to look at him to know that something was bothering him.

"She seemed believable," Flynn said after a moment.

"Having second thoughts?" She asked, finally turning to look at him.

"Maybe," he said, leaning against the wall next to her shoulder and looking down at her. "She seemed honestly shocked to hear she'd been living in a house with a bunch of dead guys."

"I'm wondering if I should have mentioned that one of them was female," Sharon said, leaning back against the wall, her shoulder bumping against his.

"I think it's better to wait," he said. "Let's find out if it's Agnes first."

"I'm exhausted," Sharon suddenly breathed out.

"You hungry?" Flynn asked. Sharon didn't feel hungry but she knew she needed to eat. She'd skipped lunch, her appetite deserting her after her interview with Simon Hall.

"Yes," she said after a moment.

"Grab your things," he said, leaning down into her ear slightly. "I'll buy you dinner."

Sharon nodded and wandered back toward her office. She was too tired to resist or even argue over paying for her own dinner. She collected her belongings and strode out into the murder room where the rest of the team were now sitting at their desks talking about the case. Buzz handed her a copy of her interviews with Simon and Helen Hall for her to type up her reports and transcripts.

"Good job today everyone," she said to them. "Now all of you go home and get some rest."

She listened to everyone muttering, glad that it was another day over. She watched Flynn turn off his computer and he moved toward her. They were heading out toward the elevator when Provenza nearly bumped into them.

"I've told everyone to go home," Sharon told him. "I suggest you do the same thing."

He nodded and Sharon and Flynn continued passed him. When they got into the elevator Sharon caught the look that Provenza gave Flynn before the doors closed. If she had been in any other mood she might have questioned it but with her body lacking the energy, she chose to ignore it and instead, focused on the warmth Flynn's body radiated next to her.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed :D nighty night! xxx**


	7. Chapter 7

**It's here, I'm here, you're here, Sharon and the gang are here. It's a full house. Let's party!**

**Hi friendships!**

**I should be asleep right now – I really should! London is suffering with a round of tube strikes for the next four days, which I know is for a good cause and I completely understand why they're doing it, but it means that in order to make sure I get into work on time I have to leave my house at 6am to get on the bus. And I have a lot of 14 hour days this week and I just... I just... Ok, so I'm totally just feeling sorry for myself. I'm going to sit in the corner and smoke and drink and cry and look at pictures of Mary's legs. Wow, that right there is the definition of desperate!**

**I have uncontrollable word vomit tonight!**

**So here is the next chapter. I hope you like it and I apologise for the delay in getting this out. I hope it was worth the wait. The upcoming chapters will be less focused on the character relationships as we really get into the nitty gritty of the case, we'll get back to it before the end though so never fear, the fun dynamics between Sharon, Andy and Provenza will be back soon. Until then, I hope you enjoy witnessing Sharon and Andy having dinner...**

**A big thank you to everyone that has reviewed and favourited me or this story. And thank you to everyone that has followed me on twitter, tumblr and livejournal. I love making new friends so please do stop by and say hi if you haven't already, I use Lillibet426 on all platforms.**

**Love to you all! Nighty night**

**Lillibet x**

* * *

Lower than the Ground

Flynn had wanted to take her to an Italian place he apparently frequented but she'd heard it was a nice place, intimate and high end. She wasn't in the mood for it. Instead she had asked him to take her to the diner where he and Provenza often had breakfast. He'd frowned at her requested but had merely agreed and said nothing more. She wanted something heavy in her stomach, something all together unhealthy and greasy. She wanted the busyness of the diner, the loud patrons and the heavy smell of coffee. She wanted to submerge herself in this world and forget about the case for a while.

Flynn seemed to be talking for the sake of talking.

"I just don't get it, you know what I mean?" He asked her.

Sharon had no idea what he was talking about and she looked up at him apologetically. His eyes softened with sympathy when he realised she hadn't been listening.

"I'm sorry Andy," she sighed. "I'm not very good company tonight." She tucked her hands under the table and clamped them between her thighs, probably looking very vulnerable. She didn't care.

"That's ok," he smiled at her. "I can keep the conversation going for the two of us." Sharon chuckled.

"I have no doubt about that," she rolled her eyes. "Except I have a feeling you'll only end up getting us into trouble."

"Trouble? Me?" He feigned outrage for a moment and then laughed. "You'd think you'd had to investigate me at some point." He gave her a sly grin and Sharon shook her head. She observed him discreetly as he played with his fork.

"Are you ok? She asked after a moment. Flynn frowned and chuckled a little.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

"You seemed a little..." she paused and wondered if she should be bringing this up. Provenza had told her to leave it. But she couldn't help herself, she was curious. "When we were in the elevator-"

"Oh that," he looked down at the fork in his hand, looking to Sharon as if he might be embarrassed.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," she said softly. "I just want to know if you're ok."

"I'm fine," he assured her. "It's just... do you really see me... us, me and Provenza, as brothers?"

Sharon giggled, confused at their turn in conversation and Flynn's awkwardness. "No," she said. "But it's how the two of you have been acting lately."

"I admit that I've... we might have been a little overprotective but I just..." He shrugged.

"We're friends, Andy; it's natural to feel protective of your friends." Just then the waitress arrived with their food. She placed a veggie burger and fries in front of Flynn and a plate of fries with melted cheese in front of Sharon.

Sharon dove into her food, not caring what was in the mayonnaise she was dipping her fries into. She watched Flynn out of the corner of her eye, he was quiet. He moved his fries around his plate but he hadn't actually eaten anything yet. She looked up at him properly and waited for him to say whatever it was that was on his mind.

"I wasn't protecting you like a brother," he mumbled, his eyes focused on his food. "Or a friend."

Sharon sighed, not wholly surprised at the current topic. It wasn't the first time it had been hinted at. "I know," she said softly, tilting her head at him.

"Ok," he nodded and lifted his eyes up to her. "Just as long as you know."

"And I presume Provenza knows too," she smirked at him and Flynn rolled his eyes.

"Haven't heard the end of it all day," he said with a shrug.

"He's all phoney grumpiness and no filter," she said, earning a full laugh from Flynn.

"Maybe with you," he said, still laughing. "But with me, he was just plain old Provenza."

"And we wouldn't want him any other way," she smirked as she continued to eat her fries. "Except when I was in FID, a little phoney grumpiness would have been nice," she smirked and shrugged a shoulder. Flynn laughed again before finally digging into his burger.

"Yeah well, maybe if we'd seen a little of you as you are now, we wouldn't have been so bad." He grinned at her and Sharon huffed a little.

"So it's my fault?" She challenged him.

"Well, I wouldn't say that," he said. "But would it have hurt to be a little friendlier?"

"I couldn't do my job if I was friendly," she said to him. He frowned at her. "I wouldn't have been able to do my job properly if I was investigating my friends. I had to keep you all at arms length."

"That why they brought another FID division in to investigate the OIS with Provenza?" He asked.

"Yes, a complication of my transfer is that they can't investigate me or the team objectively," she said. "I trained Lieutenant Elliot and most of the other officers in our FID. I recruited them and when you work in Internal Affairs, being separated from the rest of the force, you become very close to those who understand what you do. Not many ever leave once they're there, not because they can't, but because sometimes the ties are too strong."

"Why did you stay so long?" He asked, pinching some of her mayonnaise without asking. She didn't mind.

"It was convenient," she shrugged. "When my kids were young, the hours suited a working mother. And then as I began to rise through the ranks I figured I might reach Chief someday; plus, I was good at it." She laughed as Flynn nodded in agreement.

"You can say that again," he said. "So why did you accept the transfer?"

Sharon considered him for a moment and she realised that no one in the division had asked her that question. They had, after a brief adjustment period, just accepted the move. "I took it because I wanted to do something more." She paused a moment and Flynn looked up at her. "I never wanted to stay in FID for as long as I did, I loved working the Hall case back in the 70's and I was damn good at it. I wanted to be in Robbery/Homicide but at the time, it wasn't considered a woman's place to work."

Flynn nodded in understanding, he'd seen the boys club in action, and at times he'd even actively taken part. Back then, she would have held it against him but it was a long time ago. Times had changed, the LAPD had changed, and they had changed as people. She didn't hold it against him.

"So you took Major Crimes because it was where you wanted to be?" He asked.

"Yeah," she said, smiling at him. "It happened a little later then I would have liked but, at least I got here in the end."

"We're glad you did," he said to her. "All of us are, even Provenza." Sharon gave him a sceptical look and he chuckled. "I know, I know, but he does like working with you. You didn't push him out. I think he was worried he was going to be forced into retirement. I think he appreciates that you value his opinions and advice, you treat him as an equal, you do all of us."

Sharon didn't know what to say. She felt a lump in her throat and she took a minute. She knew that the team had always worked well together, she had seen it first as an outsiders and then as the head of that team. She had been worried going in that they would desert her, that they would dissolve into a team she no longer recognised. But as the professionals they were, they pushed aside their personal opinions and gave their all on every case that came in. They were patient with her, they were willing to teach her, they stood by her whenever something didn't go quite to plan and they celebrated with her when they did. They were supportive and she felt extremely lucky to be working with each and every one of them. And to hear they felt they same, she was quite overwhelmed. "Thank you Andy," she said after a moment. Flynn was oblivious to her inner thoughts and while she had been ruminating on his words, he had polished off what was left of his burger and fries.

"For what?" He asked, wiping his mouth on a napkin and pinching a few of her fries.

"For..." She didn't really know how to explain it and so she just smiled and shook her head. "Do you want the rest of these?" She pushed the half eaten plate of cheesy fries to him and he eagerly finished them off.

"So much for watching what I'm eating," he smirked at her.

"Every once in awhile isn't so bad," she chuckled. "But I agree, tonight might have been over indulgent."

"Shall I get the bill?" He asked. She nodded.

"I should probably get Rusty a burger," she said as she watched the waitress make her way over to them. "If I'm going to be late home the least I can do is take him a burger for his dinner."

Andy smirked.

-x-

Spending the morning briefing Chief Pope on what the Major Crimes division was working had left Sharon feeling drained. Tallying department budgets, debating overtime pay and holiday entitlement. Debriefing him on all the cases the division had open, handing over reports of those that had been closed. It was odd that during her time in FID, she had enjoyed these monthly debriefings. Now that she was head of Major Crimes, it was another ball game.

She felt exhausted as she traipsed back into the murder room, her arms laden with files from her meeting. Sanchez and Sykes jumped up quickly to take them from her and she thanked them with a smile. She looked over at Provenza who was hidden behind his crossword puzzle, his eyes occasionally flickering to the man standing by the window beyond Flynn's desk. She walked to her Lieutenant's desk and leaned a hip against it. She folded her arms across her chest as she watched Doctor Horton watching the world go by below them.

"He's here to see you," Provenza mumbled, concentrating on his crossword.

"About?" She asked, looking down at him.

"Wouldn't say," Provenza looked up at her.

"It's probably the reports of the autopsies," she shrugged. Provenza nodded slowly in agreement.

"Then let's make sure we do the briefing out here where the whole team can watch... listen to what he has to say," he said, looking over at the doctor. "It might be important."

Sharon tried to hide her smile but she knew Provenza would be able to see it. His attempt at trying to subtle in his protectiveness amused her. She was about to tell him that Doctor Horton would no doubt be briefing the entire team on the reports anyway, when a voice called to her.

"Captain," Doctor Horton was striding toward them, his face keen as if he were trying to impress a teacher he had a crush on. Sharon gave him a slight smile and stepped toward him, her hands clasping behind her back.

"Doctor Horton," she began, noticing a frustrated fall onto his face. It was obvious he was hoping she would call him Owen. She didn't want to encourage him. "Do you have something for us?"

"Yes," he held up a thick file for her to see. "Perhaps we can discuss it in your office?"

Sharon gave him a tight lipped smile, her hand briefly scratching at the back of her head. She ignored Provenza's cough. "Actually, Doctor, I'd prefer to do it here with the rest of the team. I'd only have to repeat what you've said to me anyway," she hooked her fingers in the crook of his elbow and pulled him toward the murder board. "So you'd really be doing me a favour if you briefed everyone at the same time," she patted his arm and when she noticed his hand reaching for hers she quickly withdrew. She skirted around Provenza's desk and stood beside Sanchez's chair. She noticed that Provenza and Tao had rolled their chairs closer into the isle, whether to create a barrier between her and the enthusiastic doctor or not she didn't know. Nevertheless, she was grateful for the space.

"The floors yours," Flynn said smugly, coming to stand on her other side.

Doctor Horton looked as though he were going to throw up and Sharon felt a pang of guilt. But then, in mere seconds, he seemed to change and he slipped into the confident doctor she had met the first day of the excavation.

He began with the unidentified men. Each young man had been strangled. A fracture at the base of the skull and the decompression at the neck signalled that they were killed with a similar belt to the ones that were found with the first two bodies. Doctor Horton and his team had discovered that the matching markings on each of the victim's ankles were from homemade cuffs.

"They were shackled by their ankles?" Sanchez asked in disgust.

"Probably to keep them from escaping," Tao said, leaning forward to get a better look at the photographs Doctor Horton was pinning on the board.

"And that's not all," Horton continued. "One of my assistants has a theory after we discovered some stress fractures on the ankle bones."

"Stress fractures?" Tao stood to look at the magnified photos of the second body. "Someone was pulling on the chains?"

"My assistant thinks the bodies were strung up, like cattle," Horton said, looking over at Sharon. "He believes that would not only account for the fractures but also for why the shackles left markers on the bones."

"They must have been left like that for a while to produce this kind of injury." Tao sat back down in his chair.

"Or they could have been hung upside down repeatedly," Sharon suggested, noticing Doctor Horton's eager expression turn to her. "Could that also produce the same results?" She asked him.

"Yes," he answered.

"But why?" Sykes asked, looking a little sick.

"Perhaps it was part of the game," Sharon answered. "Hanging a victim upside down will render them incapacitated. If their hands were tied behind their backs and the belt around their heads, the men would have no way to fight back."

"Is there any evidence that they were sexually assaulted?" Provenza asked, giving voice to the question they were all thinking.

"Without the flesh it's hard to say," Doctor Horton said, turning back to the board. "But from my experience, this method of torture is usually of a sexual nature."

"Is there any hard evidence that this was done by two people?" Sharon asked.

"Unless they had some kind of machine that would help them lift the men in the air by their ankles they would definitely need two people." Doctor Horton shrugged. "Other than the fact that these kinds of killings are usually done in pairs, there's no other reason to suspect that there was more than one murderer."

Sharon sighed, frustration setting in; she had been sure that both Simon and Dorothy had been involved. Suddenly, she caught onto something Doctor Horton had said. "What did you mean by _'these kinds of killings are usually done in pairs'_?"

"Ah," Doctor Horton smiled at her. "These murders were staged so that they were on display."

"As in, someone was watching?" Flynn's voice was strained.

"The killer went to a lot of trouble to subdue the victims, to make them passive. Everything was about showing off, perhaps the killers, if there were two, took it in turns to torture the men. Each session escalating until one of them delivered the final scene. Maybe it _was _a game," Doctor Horton turned back to the board, looking closely at the photos. He looked almost gleeful and it made Sharon's skin crawl. She glanced toward Provenza and when their eyes locked briefly, she knew he was thinking the same thing. "Maybe the winner's prize was taking the life."

Silence filled the room. Sharon and the rest of the team stared at Doctor Horton's back for a time while he was observing each of the victim's photos carefully.

"What now ma'am?" Sanchez asked, breaking the silence.

"I'd like to hear about the body we thought was Michael," Sharon said loudly, jolting Doctor Horton from his thoughts.

"Ah yes," he said, pulling more photos from the file he had brought with him and pinning them to the board. He then pinned two DNA tests next to them. "The first body we found in the basement is in fact, Michael Hall."

There was a round of relieved sighs from the team. Now that they had final confirmation, they could start working on what had happened to him. With a sinking feeling in her stomach Sharon couldn't help thinking ahead to the notification she would have to give.

"Cause of death matches what we know of the events from Helen Hall's initial report," Doctor Horton continued. "There is severe damage to the skull, which when during the preliminary examination we assumed was one blow. Doctor Morales and I then discovered that it was a series of blows, each one weakening the bone until it caved in."

"Do you know the murder weapon?" Tao asked while taking notes.

"Oh yes," the gleeful look was back in Doctor Horton's eyes. "A flat wall."

"He was repeatedly pushed into a wall," Sharon said with realisation.

"That's a lot of anger," Provenza grumbled.

"Did he die right away?" Sharon asked, not knowing if she wanted to know the answer.

"Judging from the dark stains around the nose and mouth, I'd say no," Doctor Horton pointed to the nasal cavity on one of the images. "This turned out to be dirt; it matched the samples we took from the basement."

"He was buried alive?" Sykes asked in shock.

"Yes." Doctor Horton's words rang loudly through the murder room. Sharon felt her stomach tighten, bile rising at the back of her throat.

"Helen buried her brother while he was still alive..." she hadn't realised she'd even said the words aloud until everyone turned to look at her.

"She's as much to blame for this as the killers are," Doctor Horton said without an ounce of sympathy.

Sharon glared at him but before she could say anything Flynn spoke up. "She was 11 at the time of the murder. The asshole of a father she had made her bury her brother in the basement after beating his head against a wall. Are you suggesting that we arrest Helen Hall too? Lock her up behind bars? She was a kid!"

Sharon could hear the anger building in Flynn's voice and although she knew he was fighting her corner, her argument, she had to stop him before he spiralled out of control. She placed a gentle hand on his back and she felt him relax almost instantly. She caught the look Provenza shot at his partner before he turned back to address Doctor Horton.

"How about you leave the _who_ to us?" Provenza snarled.

"Thank you, Doctor Horton," Sharon said quickly before anyone else could speak. "You've been very helpful to our case." She gave him a tight lipped smile then turned to the rest of the squad. "I want-"

"There's something else," Horton interrupted.

"Yes?" She asked, turning back to him.

"The female victim," he started. "We got X-Rays on the reconstructed skull; they're not a match for the dental records your Lieutenant's brought down."

"They're _not_ a match?" Sharon glanced toward Provenza.

"Whoever is lying down on Doctor Morales's autopsy table downstairs, it's not Agnes Hall."

* * *

**Dun, dun, dun!**

**Hope you guys enjoyed. I'd love to know your thoughts and feelings on this so please remember to leave a comment.**

**One last thing, a shout out to Megan429 who described Provenza as being all '_phoney grumpiness and no filter' _in a review which really tickled me – Sharon borrowed it for this chapter. We thank you!**

**Night all! xx**


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